JACKSON (AP) — The director of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security says her 715 workers are getting heartburn about the prospect of losing their own jobs because of a political dispute at the state Capitol.

Tommye Dale Favre told members of the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday that uncertainty about whether MDES will continue to exist after June 30 has ‘‘created more than undue anxiety.’’

State agencies come up for reauthorization every few years. During the recent legislative session, House leaders tried to change the bill that would keep MDES alive; they wanted to tighten regulations for advertising by all state agencies.

Because of the dispute, the bill died. Gov. Haley Barbour says he’ll call lawmakers back to the state Capitol for a special session to keep MDES alive.

The agency handles job training programs and distributes unemployment benefits.

The new state budget year starts July 1. MDES gets all its money from the federal government, but it needs state legislative permission to stay in existence.

Ways and Means Committee chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, told Favre on Wednesday that the attempt to regulate state advertising is not aimed at MDES. He said it just happened to be the agency up for authorization at the time lawmakers wanted to tackle the issue.

‘‘We are not making any accusations toward your agency,’’ Watson said.

Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said last week he had been told that the governor’s staff notified legislative leaders the special session will start about May 21. Barbour has not announced a date.

Republican Barbour told several hundred people at a Mississippi Economic Council meeting last week that if MDES goes out of existence, employers will have to pay significantly more for unemployment insurance taxes — from 0.8 percent of payroll to 6.2 percent — because a federal tax credit will disappear.

Pete Fleming, director of the office of state systems for the U.S. Labor Department in Atlanta, told Mississippi lawmakers Wednesday that the loss of the tax credit could cost the state’s employers more than $400 million a year.

He praised MDES.

‘‘It is one of the top-performing agencies of its type in the United States and always has been,’’ Fleming said.

Some lawmakers say they want to increase Mississippi’s maximum weekly unemployment benefit, which at $210, is the lowest in the nation. The rate hasn’t changed here since 2002.

Favre said MDES supports increasing the benefit to $220 this July 1 and to $230 a year later.

‘‘We understand that we are low,’’ she said.

Rep. Sherra Hillman Lane, D-Waynesboro, said the proposed increase is too small. With the increasing price of gasoline and food, ‘‘they can’t buy anything with $10.’’

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, told reporters last month that he had mixed feelings about increasing the unemployment benefit. He said ‘‘there are legitimate people who lose their jobs’’ and need the money, but added: ‘‘I get the feeling sometimes we’re incentivizing people not to work.’’

House Labor Committee Chairman Rufus Straughter, D-Belzoni, responded Wednesday: ‘‘I thought that was a little bit low from the lieutenant governor.’’

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On the Net:

Mississippi Department of Employment Security: http://www.mdes.ms.gov



AP-CS-05-14-08 1553EDT