Mississippi lawmakers and other state officials are preparing tomeet this week with experts from Washington, D.C., to discuss thepotential effects of the almost $800 billion federal stimuluspackage on Mississippi, a local legislator said.

District 53 Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, organized themeeting after spending the weekend in Washington with a small groupof key officials from the Council of State Governments, where heserves on the executive committee. The meeting is tentativelyscheduled for Wednesday at the Capitol in Jackson, he said.

The research and information services organization and its lawfirm, Latham and Watkins LLP, have compiled a guide to the stimuluspackage that lists funding amounts and application deadlines.

The council plans to publish further stimulus information,including a state-by-state breakdown, at www.staterecovery.orgbeginning Monday. At a glance, the Web site details approximately$1.6 billion in stimulus funding for Mississippi.

The application deadlines for stimulus money, meanwhile, arequickly approaching. In fact, the deadline for states to apply fora portion of the $27.5 billion in funding for highwayinfrastructure investments – which the stimulus bill was originallybased on but now accounts for only 3 percent of the bill’s totalexpenditures – is March 10.

“The timelines are what appear to be so quick,” Moak said. “Thefederal transportation commission has to do some acceptance byMarch 10, and the deadlines appear to be coming very, very quickly.Our (department of transportation) has to be on the ball to get inthere and get these funds if Mississippi wants them. If we don’twalk through the door, we’ll be locked out from getting thosefunds.”

After the March 10 deadline for transportation projects,subsequent deadlines stack up within two weeks of each other.

Moak said the process would be a complicated one, as severalaspects of the stimulus package remain unknown. The most obviousunknown is the location and intent of half of the package’s funding- the council’s and other reports list the totals and deadlines foronly $339.71 billion of the package’s total $787 billion.

“Everyone is looking real hard, but no one has a real grasp onit yet,” Moak said.

Also potentially complicating the process, Moak said, are Gov.Haley Barbour’s reservations about accepting stimulus funding.Barbour is one of four southern governors who have statedobjections to receiving some or all of the funds because of federalstrings that may be attached.

“If (Barbour) is not going to accept the funds, we may simplymiss the deadlines,” Moak said.

Moak, meanwhile, said he agrees with the governor’s concern overfederal stipulations, but believes Mississippi should accept thestimulus package rather than lose it. Turning down stimulus fundingwould result in Mississippi taxpayers’ federal taxes going to otherstates with no benefit for Mississippi, he said, and the clock isalready ticking.

“It’s a cookie jar, if you will, and you have to get your handin the jar,” Moak said. “If you don’t, you won’t be pulling out anycookies. The jar will become empty one day and you must fullyrealize that it’s over.”

If Mississippi does apply for stimulus funds, Moak said thereare several areas where the state would benefit immediately.

The most obvious of those areas, he said, is Medicaid, for whichthe stimulus bill provides $87 billion to share between the states.Mississippi’s Medicaid program has been running almost $100 millionshort every year since one-time, federal Hurricane Katrina funds -which the state was using to plug the funding hole – ran out.Subsequent solutions to the Medicaid deficit have been hotlydebated and defeated in the Legislature.

Moak also pointed to education funding as another stimulusprovision the state could take quick advantage of. The packagecontains close to $100 billion for several forms of educationfunding, including $48.3 in state allocations, $13 billion foreducation for the disadvantaged and $12.2 billion for specialeducation programs.

Education funding has turned out to be another heated issue inthe Legislature this year after Barbour cut close to $100 millionfrom the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and other fundingsources in the face of decreased state revenue.

Moak said the state’s railroads can also benefit from thestimulus package. Aside from the $27.5 billion in highwayinfrastructure development, the transportation portion of thestimulus package also contains $8 billion for the construction ofhigh-speed railways and intercity passenger rail services.

Could Mississippi get a bullet train from the stimulus package?The West Coast is.

“There’s some funds in there for a bullet train from Las Vegasto Los Angeles,” Moak said. “[Rail transportation] is a very largepart of the transportation package.”