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Mississippi exported a record total of $11.8 billion in goods in 2012, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Association.

That represents a $1.8 billion increase over 2011. The U.S.’s overall export value set a record in 2012, at $2.2 trillion. Mississippi’s bordering states, with the exception of Arkansas, all exported a higher value in 2012.

Mississippi’s largest export market in 2012 was Panama, which bought $2.1 billion in goods from the state. Canada was second, with $1.9 billion; China (($864 million) came in third.

Petroleum and coal products accounted for $4 billion of the state’s exports. Other common exports include chemicals, computers and other electronic devices, transportation equipment and paper.

“The Mississippi Development Authority stands ready to assist Mississippi businesses with their exporting needs, and I encourage companies considering exporting for the first time or expanding their current trade efforts to contact MDA’s international trade specialists to learn how we can assist them,” MDA executive director Brent Christensen said in a news release.

Christensen said The Mississippi STEP Program, administered by MDA’s Trade Bureau and funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, is designed to reduce some of the financial obstacles small businesses face when entering the export market.

The program reimburses eligible small businesses up to 50 percent of travel costs, including airfare and lodging and provides translation services at no cost. Other services could include scheduled pre-arranged appointments with prospective qualified buyers, local transportation assistance and a customized trip itinerary.

The MDA has two upcoming trade missions planned. One is May 9-17 to Asia, with stops in Korea, the Phillipines, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Another to Germany and Poland is planned for May 20-24.

Small business owners interested in either may be eligible for assistance from the STEP program.

Wednesday’s deadline for floor action on bills that originated in the opposite chamber brought mixed results for legislation aimed at the state’s business community.

Of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s legislative agenda, only a bill that would provide a 25 percent rebate to businesses that contract with one of the state’s colleges or universities for qualified research remains alive. The Strengthening Mississippi Academic Research Through (SMART) Business Act would cap rebates at $1 million per business and $5 million per fiscal year. It died in the 2012 session. It has been sent to conference.

Other bills Hosemann supported – tax credits for businesses relocating their headquarters to Mississippi, expanding existing headquarters  and an employee pass-through tax credit – all died for the second consecutive session.

Already signed by Gov. Phil Bryant into law is legislation that that will provide $8 million in additional money to the Workforce Enhancement Training Fund. The WET fund is used by community colleges to provide training for jobs and skills that employers have identified as being in demand.

The money will be generated by a one-year decrease in the unemployment tax businesses pay and a corresponding increase in the WET fund tax. The net effect on employers who pay each tax will be neutral. Also contributing to the additional job training money is $14 million in fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits the Mississippi Department of Employment Security has gotten back.

Bryant signed the bill Wednesday. The measure was supported by the Mississippi chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Legislation directed at the Mississippi Development Authority had mixed results. A bill requiring the agency to issue an annual report of the tax breaks and other incentives it provides to businesses died. Executive director Brent Christensen has said that’s something the agency plans to do anyway, starting with the one issued late last year. Also dead is a bill that would have authorized the MDA to periodically hire consultants to assess the incentives it issues.

Still alive is a measure that would divert money from an MDA fund established to lure Toyota to a workforce training grant fund.

The next hurdle still-active bills face is a conference report deadline on April 4.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves will support a bond bill that addresses long-term capital needs, charter schools should be allowed to locate wherever parents want them, and the Mississippi Development Authority needs more legislative supervision over how it spends money out of its revolving loan fund.

Reeves touched on those topics and a few others Monday during the Stennis Capitol Press Corps luncheon in Jackson.

The Republican has taken criticism, including from some in his party, since the last legislation session ended without the passage of a bond bill, the first time that’s happened in as long as a lot of legislative veterans can remember.

The first-term lieutenant governor repeated Monday what he’s said for a couple months: He can get behind a bond package “reasonable and rational in size” that pays for long-term capital needs instead of things that should be funded through the normal appropriations process. He listed local system bridge programs, and repairs and HVAC systems for state buildings as things that have historically been bonded, and that are a big reason why the state pays $430 million annually in debt service.

“If it does not meet those criteria, I cannot support” a bond bill, Reeves said.

Reeves also reiterated his support for charter schools in every district where enough parents want to form one. Who can trigger the charter law was a sticking point in last year’s session, with splits forming among those who held views similar to Reeves’, and those who wanted charter schools only in districts rated as unsuccessful or failing.

There will be another bill this session aimed at lowering the ceiling for which the MDA can spend out of its revolving loan fund without legislative approval. Currently, the MDA can spend up to $468 million before having to ask lawmakers’ permission. The fund is used to help economic development prospects with costs related to coming to Mississippi.

Last year, a bill passed the Senate that would have lowered the limit from $468 million to $50 million. It died in the House Ways and Means Committee when chairman Rep. Jeff Smith, R-Columbus, did not bring it up for a vote.

“I do not believe the Mississippi Development Authority ought to have $468 million to spend on whatever project they want to spend it on,” Reeve said.

Reeves affirmed his opposition to the expansion of the state’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, and said there would be no “serious, significant discussion” about it until the federal government clarifies certain rules. Particularly, Reeves said, states who opt out of the Medicaid expansion need to know if disproportionate share payments – made to hospitals that write off the cost of large amounts of treatment to indigent patients – will remain or be eliminated.

The 2013 session gavels to a start Tuesday at noon.

Former Gov. Haley Barbour says the vetting process for Twin Creeks revealed a company that had an advantage over its competitors because it used 4 percent as much silicon to make its solar panels.

That wasn’t enough to keep the company from going under, and owing the state just more than $27 million in aid used to build an 80,000 square-foot facility in Senatobia and to purchase equipment to put in it. China’s decision to flood the U.S. solar panel market with products even cheaper than Twin Creeks’ was what did the company in, Barbour said, echoing what Mississippi Development Authority officials have said recently.

“We thought it was a company that could compete very successfully,” Barbour said in an interview with the Mississippi Business Journal. “They had an agreement to sell quite a large number of solar panels in India. Indian officials even came to the groundbreaking. Those expected contracts fell through when the Chinese ran the price down so much. So while Twin Creeks could beat everybody’s price over here, the Chinese didn’t care what the price was. The Chinese were interested in employment. They’ll sell the solar panels for whatever they get. They don’t care about profit.”

To go with its contracts in India, Barbour said Twin Creeks had more than $100 million in private investment committed, something he called “a key indicator” as to whether the company was legitimate.

Barbour said the state has had success with start-ups before, pointing to steelmaker SeverCorr (now Severstal) in Columbus.

“We spent about $35 million on their facility in Columbus – site prep, drainage, and the like,” Barbour said. “Then we gave them a $60 million loan guarantee, which they have paid off. We’re in that deal about $35 million and they’re in it several hundred million dollars.”

Barbour did not praise or criticize current Gov. Phil Bryant’s recent assertion that the state would be more interested in investing in established companies with a track record of success, rather than start-ups like Twin Creeks.

“For us, when we looked at something that was a start-up, it always came back to how much private investors were putting in. It’s up to (the Bryant administration) to set the policies, to fine-tune them how they think is best. Nobody’s crystal ball is perfect.”

Mississippi Development Authority executive director Brent Christensen said that agency will examine the possibility of lending financial help to start-up companies like Twin Creeks “with a different eye,” and any aid package will likely look different than those of the past.

Christensen, in his first extended session with the media Wednesday morning, also released a report that detailed the amount of economic development incentives the state has issued since fiscal year 2008. Christensen added that he will make the release of similar data an annual thing.

Numbers show that from FY 2008 until the end of FY 2012 last June, the state gave out incentives totaling $520,397,565 in the form of grants, loans, tax credits, tax rebates and other devices. Those incentives resulted in a total of 32,268 jobs being committed, though MDA CFO Kathy Gelston said some of the incentives were for job-retention programs, which means those jobs have already been realized.

Eliminating duplicate job counts, the incentive-per-job ratio comes to $20,794.

How they’re given and who receives incentives is getting a fresh look at the MDA, Christensen said, and not just because of the recent failure of Twin Creeks. The Senatobia solar panel manufacturer owes the state $26 million it got to build its 80,000 square-foot facility and to purchase equipment. The MDA is marketing the building in an attempt to find a tenant. The state also has sued Twin Creeks in an attempt to recoup some or all of its investment.

Christensen, like Gov. Phil Bryant recently, said the state would be hesitant to go into business with start-up companies like Twin Creeks.

“And if we do, our incentive packages will likely look different than they have,” Christensen said. “We’ll continue to look at those kind of projects, just with a different eye. There has to be significant private investment.” Private investment in Twin Creeks had reached $100 million. The state chipped in $25 million of a $50 million loan package that was available.

State aid in newer or start-up companies will probably help with workforce development and infrastructure, instead of actually financing the company, Christensen said. Ghelston said companies having in-hand the money to build their facility would likely be a requirement, too.

What will not change is the actual practice of issuing incentives, Christensen said. “The only way they go away is the federal government bans them, which would lead to widespread litigation, or all 50 states get in a room and agree to drop their weapons,” Christensen said.

The Southeastern U.S. is particularly competitive when it comes to economic development. Christensen listed Alabama’s recently upping its ceiling on incentives by $130 million via referendum, designed to help that state land Airbus suppliers connected to the aircraft manufacturer’s Mobile facility.

South Mississippi wants in on those suppliers, Christensen said, and incentives will be a part of that pursuit.

The Mississippi Development Authority’s chief financial officer said Friday afternoon that while every economic development project that receives state aid carries some risk, the system of “clawbacks” is working in the case of Twin Creeks Technologies.

Twin Creeks, the California-based solar panel manufacturer, received a $26 million loan from the state to open an 80,000 square-foot facility in Senatobia, but the company never got off the ground and was bought earlier this month by GT Advanced Technologies. GT does not plan to honor Twin Creeks’ agreement with the state.

The state loaned Twin Creeks $15 million to build the facility, and another $8 million to purchase equipment. The state now owns the building and its contents. Another $3 million in public money was used for site prep and for infrastructure upgrades.

“This shows that the clawbacks are working,” MDA CFO Kathy Ghelston told the Mississippi Business Journal in a phone interview. “We have the building, we have the equipment. We will get a settlement hopefully. I think that worst-case scenario, everything we’ve paid for, we have. Best-case scenario the state is made completely whole.”

The state sued Twin Creeks in Tate County Chancery Court in early November. Ghelston said she was optimistic the parties could reach a settlement that would allow the state to recoup its investment.

Ghelston said the first sign of trouble came Oct. 17, when Twin Creeks officials told MDA brass in a meeting that it was not going to be able to make the first loan payment to the state, which was due in December.

“At that point, we knew that the project was in real danger,” Ghelston said.

Gov. Haley Barbour convinced lawmakers late in the 2010 legislative session to pass a $50 million loan package that did not specify Twin Creeks by name, but spelled out the  investment ($132 million) and job-creation benchmarks (500 over five  years) that Twin Creeks claimed it would reach when the company announced in June 2010 that it was building a facility in Senatobia.

Ghelston said Twin Creeks had the technology to produce solar panels cheaper than their competitors in 2010. The problem, she said, arose when China flooded the U.S. market with solar panels that were cheaper.

“I don’t know if there is anything we could have done to prevent what happened from a market standpoint,” Ghelston said.

The MDA plans to market the building for a new prospect to sell or lease. Ghelston said the facility would be ideal for suppliers connected to the aerospace or automotive industry. She took exception to a Memphis-area commercial Realtor’s assertion to the Associated Press that the building is worth far less than the $15 million it cost to construct.

“I question how they would know that considering they’d never been in the building,” Ghelston said. “It’s not a warehouse. It’s a very technologically advanced building. It’s not a shell and that’s not the way it will be marketed. We believe there are real opportunities for that building.”

The fourth Mississippi Freedom Trail marker will be unveiled Thursday morning on the campus of Jackson State University.

The marker will commemorate the student protests at what was then known as Jackson State College in 1970. On May 14, students had gathered on Lynch Street to protest the American invasion of Cambodia that was part of the Vietnam War.

Protesters set fires, threw rocks at motorists and overturned vehicles. Two students were killed by law enforcement gunfire while city and state police attempted to control the crowd while firefighters tried to extinguish the blazes.

Exactly what provoked police to open fire is still a mystery. Police reported seeing a sniper firing from a nearby roof, though a subsequent FBI investigation turned up no evidence of that. Students claimed they did nothing to warrant having weapons turned on them.

The killings came 10 days after a similar incident at Kent State University in Ohio.

The marker, which will stand on Lynch Street across from Rose E. McCoy Auditorium, will be unveiled at 11:30 a.m. The project is a joint venture of the Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division and the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Mississippi Development Authority executive director Brent Christensen denied Monday an appeal by two environmental groups to reconsider rules governing oil and gas leases, drilling and exploration in the Mississippi Sound.

The Sierra Club and Gulf Restoration Network had asked the agency to rethink its decision to allow those activities in the area south of the Mississippi Barrier Islands. Under the rules, they would be allowed within one mile seaward of the islands.

The two groups announced Tuesday afternoon plans to appeal Christensen’s decision. A press release did not specify in what court that appeal would take place. The Sierra Club and GRN initially appealed the rules to Hinds County Chancery Court, but the MDA was successful in convincing the chancellor that the first appeal had to go through the agency.

GRN Mississippi organizer Raleigh Hoke said the MDA “has completely ignored the negative impacts the drilling and production could have on coastal tourism and other industries.”

The release said the groups are appealing on behalf of the 12 Miles South Coalition, an organization made up of Coast business and community leadership whose goal is to limit drilling and related activities no closer than 12 nautical miles south of the islands. The Coalition says drilling closer would harm the area’s tourism economy.

A group that wants to limit oil and gas production to areas of the Gulf of Mexico at least 12 nautical miles south of the Mississippi Barrier Islands is holding a public forum Thursday night in Gulfport to talk about that initiative.

The 12 Miles South Coalition, made up of business and community leaders from the Gulf Coast, will hold what it’s calling “an evening of education and dialogue” about plans to open Mississippi waters to oil and gas exploration and drilling. Panelists – which will include representatives from Gulf Islands National Seashore, the Gulf Restoration Network and the Mississippi Gulf Coast CVB – will go over potential impact to the Coast’s environment and economy drilling that close to the Barrier Islands could have.

Currently, areas leased for exploration and/or production come as close as a mile south of the islands. The Mississippi Development Authority accepted comments on the proposals earlier this year. In March, the Sierra Club and the Gulf Restoration Network sued to stop the implementation of the plans.

In 2004, the Mississippi Legislature opened up 38 percent of Mississippi’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas development. The rest is off limits.

Thursday’s forum starts at 6 p.m. at the Handsboro Community Center on Switzer Road. It is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.12milessouthcoatlition.org or facebook.com/12milessouthcoalition.

The civil trial involving the state and the Georgia-based company hired to manage the construction of the failed Mississippi Beef Processors plant in Oakland has been taken off Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston Kidd’s calendar.

The trial had been scheduled to start Monday morning.

Dorsey Carson, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, would not comment when reached on his cell phone Friday, other than to confirm that the trial was not going forward as of mid-afternoon.

Usually, a civil trial being removed from a judge’s calendar means the two sides have reached a settlement, or are close to doing so.

The state of Mississippi, its now-defunct Land, Water and Timber Board and the Mississippi Development Authority are suing Facility Construction Management Inc. in an effort to recoup some or all of the $54 million the state lost when the cull cattle plant closed shortly after it opened in 2004.

Three Facility executives have since been released from federal prison after they each plead guilty to making an improper donation to former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove’s campaign. Richard Hall, former president of Mississippi Beef Processors, is still incarcerated in a facility in Kentucky, according to the Bureau of Prisons website, and is scheduled for release in May.