The first big deadline for the Legislature was Tuesday and hundreds of bills didn’t clear the initial milestone.
Bills were due Tuesday to pass committees for a potential floor vote in the originating chamber. Any bill that didn’t pass committee by Tuesday evening was dead for the session.
Among the bills that survived the great winnowing was one that would ban the teaching of critical race theory, another that would prohibit vaccine mandates by state and local governments, a big reform of the state’s business incentive program and another that would allow some municipal utilities to extend broadband service to rural areas.
The next big deadline of the session will be February 10, which is the deadline for floor votes from the originating chamber. Another key deadline is March 1 for committees to approve bills from the opposite chamber for floor votes.
Here are some of the more interesting bills that have been submitted so far:
House Bill 1509 would prohibit state and local governments from imposing vaccine mandates and was sponsored by House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton. It passed by a 75-41 vote in the House on January 27 and is headed to the Senate.
Senate Bill 2159 would reform the state’s 42 different incentive programs to lure new companies to the state and urge existing ones to expand. The bill is authored by state Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, and the bill offers a one easy-to-use calculation on initial investment, jobs, wages and benefits with a minimum investment of $2.5 million and a minimum of 10 jobs created. The bill would also repeal an income tax incentive ($1,000 per each qualifying employee with a minimum of 75 employees) originally passed in 2013.
A House version died on the calendar without a floor vote.
HB 1344 would provide salary hikes for both state troopers and officers in the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. The bill would increase the salary for both starting state troopers and MBN agents from $38,000 to $45,314. A pair of similar bills, HB 419 and HB 233, were allowed to die.
SB 2113 would ban the teaching of critical race theory and was authored by State Sen. Michael McClendon, R-Hernando. The bill passed on a 32-2 vote on January 21 after black senators walked out in protest before the vote.
The bill, which has been transmitted to the House, forbids the teaching that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior or that individuals should be adversely treated based on those same criteria. The bill does lack an enforcement mechanism.
HB 33 is sponsored by state Rep. Timmy Ladner, R-Poplarville, would require that candidates for municipal and county offices file their campaign finance reports with the Secretary of State’s office. Right now, only candidates for state offices need to file their campaign finance reports with the Secretary of State and local candidates often require a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain from the city or county clerk. A similar bill, HB 159, died in committee.
HB 31 would stagger the terms of office of the Charter School Authorizer Board and require it to devise a formula to ensure that the per-student funds are similar between the charter school and the district where it is located. The bill would also require the Legislature to appropriate money separately for the Authorizer Board (it is contained in the Mississippi Department of Education’s appropriation). HB 31 is also sponsored by state Rep. Ladner. The House Education Committee rewrote it and passed it on Monday.
SB 2474 would allow any municipal utility that serves one third of its customers outside municipal boundaries to have the same powers as a non-profit electric cooperative. Under the bill authored by state Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, municipal utilities could also enter interlocal agreements with an adjacent public utility.
The bill was passed out two committees (Energy and Municipalities) in the Senate before the deadline and a reverse repealer (a legislative tactic that prevents the bill from making it to the governor’s desk for signature without more work) was added as it was passed in the Senate on Wednesday.
Dead as the proverbial door nail
SB 2449 would’ve created an exemption from prior authorization requirements for physicians and other health care practitioners. It was authored by state Sen. Walter Michel, R-Ridgeland.
HB 24 was called the Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act of Mississippi. It would’ve made a violent assembly of six or more persons that creates an immediate danger a felony, would’ve prohibited those who participate in such an unlawful assembly of receiving unemployment benefits, prohibited the blocking of traffic during an assembly or the throwing of objects and required termination of any state or local government employee who participated in such an assembly.
It was sponsored by State Rep. Ladner.
HB 164 would’ve changed the way the Legislature does its business, with general (non-revenue) bills being taken up every other year. It is sponsored by State Rep. Hank Zuber, R-Ocean Springs.
Both versions of the FORUM (Forming Open and Robust University Minds) Act died without a floor vote. Both bills would’ve protected freedom of speech rights for student organizations and provide legal remedies for those whose rights were compromised. HB 164 was sponsored by state Rep. Fred Shanks, R-Brandon and HB 375 was sponsored by state Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, R-Picayune.
Two alcohol-related bills died that were submitted by state Rep. Brent Powell, a Flowood Republican. HB 236 would’ve increased the number of permits a package store retailer could own from one to three. HB 239 would’ve allowed the sale of wine at grocery stores.
