This Thursday is the deadline for the House and Senate to pass bills that were approved by their own committees. The exception to that are bills that take your money and spend your money, otherwise known as Appropriations and Revenue bills. That deadline comes later this month.
Although bills died that would have made blue the official state color, classified venomous snakes as inherently dangerous to humans, required contracts to be written in large print, require a "probable cause" hearing for legislators who are arrested, and require school districts to serve low-fat meals and snacks to students diagnosed as overweight, there are still plenty of bills still alive.
Out of 2,300 bills that were introduced to change or create state laws (called “general bills”), 91% of them died in committee, leaving 429 to consider. Many of those are duplicate or similar bills in the House and Senate, and many are to simply extend current laws that would otherwise expire this year.
Below are significant bills that are still alive. If you click on the bill number, it will take you to the legislature’s status page for that bill, where you can read the original and current versions, and if it has been voted on in the full House or Senate, you can see who voted for or against it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Listing of the bills below should NOT be taken as our endorsement of them. To the contrary, there are some horrible bills that somehow made it out of committees with generally conservative majorities.
Accountability and Transparency |
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| HB 396 | Prohibit elected state officials from visibly or audibly participating in the making of state funded advertising. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 479 | Prohibit personal use of campaign contributions and revise law to require detailed reporting. Passed House 104-12. |
| HB 555 | Require approval by Outside Counsel Oversight Commission for Attorney General to bring certain suits. Passed House 63-58 after initially failing 58-60. |
| HB 812 | Revise regulations regarding Civil Asset Forfeiture. Passed House 118-3. |
| HB 938 | Prohibit state agencies from purchasing motor vehicles for one year. Passed House 115-5. |
| HB 974 | Remove most civil service protections for employees in several agencies by exempting those agencies from the Personnel Board rules, regulations and procedures for three years. Passed House 62-58. |
| HB1109 | Provide standards for state agencies to follow regarding Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1112 | Agency Accountability Review Act of 2017. Require legislature's watchdog, the PEER committee, to regularly evaluate state agencies' effectiveness and efficiency, including whether they are achieving ther goals. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1127 | Revise Open Meetings Act to require minutes to be posted on public bodies' websites within certain time after the meeting. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1296 | Financial Transparency in Education Act - require school districts to post their revenue and expenditures online in a searchable format. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1330 | Abolish certain boards and commissions that have not met in more than a year. Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2567 | Mississippi Health Agency Reorganization Act of 2017 - give governor the power to appoint the executive directors of several agencies, including the Health Department and the Mental Health Department, among others. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2572 | Abolish certain boards and commissions that have not met in more than a year. Passed Senate 51-0. |
| SB2632 | Prohibit state agencies from using state funds to hire contract lobbyists. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2634 | Transfer BP Settlement Funds into Gulf Coast New Restoration Reserve Fund. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2642 | Require state agencies to report to the Legislative Budget Office any "Maintenance of Effort" agreements or "Memoranda of Understanding" between the agency and the federal government. Passed Senate 51-0. |
| SB2645 | Impose moratorium on the acquisition of State vehicles. Passed Senate 51-0. |
| SB2689 | Prohibit personal use of campaign funds. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2846 | Provide standards for state agencies to follow regarding Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Awaits Senate Floor. |
Business |
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| HB 883 | Authorize natural gas public utilities that are rate-regulated to undertake economic development activities. Passed House 119-0 |
| HB 928 | Allow Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements to allow empoyers to provide health insurance while limiting its cost. Passed House 117-2. |
| HB1076 | Allow counties and cities in high-poverty or high-unemployment areas to exempt an area within their jurisdiction to exempt businesses from certain regulations, in an effort to draw investment into these communities. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1322 | Authorize small craft breweries to sell light wine or beer they produce on the premises of the brewery. Passed House 94-23. |
| SB2542 | Authorize natural gas public utilities that are rate-regulated to undertake economic development activities. Passed Senate 51-0 |
| Crime and Courts | |
| HB 645 | Increase penalties for capital and first-degree murder committed against police officers. It differs from the Senate version in that it does not place this under the "hate crimes" statute. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 805 | Allow challenges to MS laws to be filed in any county circuit court, not only in Hinds County (which is the current requirement). The Chief Justice of teh MS Supreme Court would then appoint a judge to hear the arguments in whatever location he or she chooses. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1033 | Remove the automatic action of sending criminals to prison if they miss a payment on their fines; prohibit suspending driver licenses for crimes that do not involve driving. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1039 | Creats severe penalties and prevents due process for alleged sexual assault perpetrators on college campuses. Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2302 | "Ban the Box" & expunction: Prohibit employers from asking on employment applications about criminal convictions. They may ask that in interviews, but cannot preemptively ask. This and other provisions of the bill are part of the recommendatinos of the "Re-Entry Council" made up of judges, attorneys, and others seeking to enable former offenders to gain employment and thus reduce the likelihood of commiting another crime. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2469 | "Blue, Red, and Med Lives Matter": Places violent offenses against law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical personnel under the "hate crimes" law. Passed Senate 37-13. |
| SB2710 | Prohibit sanctuary cities and require local cooperation with federal immigration control. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2842 | Authorize mental health court intervention programs. Passed Senate 51-0. |
| SB2907 | Criminalize the posting or other sharing of explicit photos or videos without the subject's consent. Awaits Senate Floor. |
Education |
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| HB 32 | Require appointment (rather than election) of school superintendents in the event of vacancy in elected office before January 1, 2019, when all superintendents must be appointed. Passed House 113-4 and Senate 49-2. Signed into law by the Governor. |
| HB 263 | Require school districts to adopt policies to notify parents of alleged bullying incidents involving their children. Also broadens the definition of bullying to include words or actions that "exploit an imbalance of power" between the perpetrator and the victim. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 267 | Elect all school boards during statewide general election or presidential election for four-year term. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 293 | Reduce the number of days in a scholastic year from 180 to 170. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 312 | Authorize inclusion of hunter safety education program in school curriculum. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 433 | Require citizenship exam as part of U.S. History or American Government courses. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 442 | Revise the qualifications for school superintendents to allow someone with a master's degree, or a bachelors degree if he or she has at least 10 years of management experience, to be appointed as a superintendent. The latter is only an option where all members of the school board that appoints the superintendent are elected. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 503 | Direct the State Board of Education to incorporate cursive writing into elementary education curriculum. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 544 | Authorize the State Dept of Education to issue Nontraditional Route Standard Licenses to certain teachers and administrators with advanced degrees. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 866 | Limit the number of days a student may be required to take standardized assessments: State-required tests no more than 3 days; for district tests, no more than 20. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 875 | Revise the process of state school accreditation in failing school districts through a process of district transformation. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 905 | Require uniform accounting system for all school districts to address local, state and federal funds. Also, transfer audit powers from State Auditor to the State Department of Education. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1036 | Expand eligibility for the MS Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship to 12th grade (it's now 6th), as would HB1046, but also expand the universe of schools at which the scholarship may be used. Also requires a school district to test a student for dyslexia if a parent requests it. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1046 | Expand eligibility for the MS Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship to 12th grade (it's now 6th). Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1050 | Allow unspent funds from a special-needs education scholarship account to remain in the account to be used the following school year. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1224 | Exempt school districts with "A" and "B" accountability ratings from certain duties. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1227 | Discontinue MS Statewide Teacher Appraisal Rubric (M-STAR) and require local districts to adopt teacher evaluation system. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1294 | Revise education funding formula. So far, this bill simply includes the current law with no changes, in order to have all the necessary "code sections" necessary once they decide what to propose. Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2036 | Sets all school board elections to be held in November general elections beginning in 2019. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2042 | Establish Early Childhood Services Interagency Coordinating Council. Considered on Senate Floor but was sent back to committee, which effectively killed it. |
| SB2273 | Direct the State Board of Education to incorporate cursive writing into elementary education curriculum. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2328 | Increase minimum GPA to qualify for the MS Resident Tuition Assistance Grant Program (M-TAG). Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2398 | Revise the qualifications for school superintendents, but differently from HB442. This bill would require at least 6 years of classroom or administrative experience, at least 3 of which must have been as a principal of a school rated A or B or a school that improved at least a letter grade. However, the State Board of Education may approve rules that allow someone without direct experience to be a superintendent. Passed Senate 34-17. |
| SB2431 | Authorize the State Board of Education to place failing school districts into "District Transformation Status." Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2459 | Expands compulsory school age from the current 6-17 to the ages of 5-18. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2461 | Require school district consolidation in Perry County. Passed Senate 33-18. |
| SB2463 | Require school district consolidation in Chickasaw County. Passed Senate 35-16. |
| SB2607 | Revise education funding formula. So far, this bill simply includes the current law with no changes, in order to have all the necessary "code sections" necessary once they decide what to propose. Awaits Senate Floor. |
Elections |
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| HB 228 | Authorize pre-election day voting. Passed House 113-8. |
| HB 373 | Allow first-time voters to register online. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 467 | An almost-300 page bill to revise election laws. Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2468 | An almost-300 page bill to revise election laws. Awaits Senate Floor. |
Family |
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| HB 853 | Revise Power of Attorney to authorize parents to delegate care and custody of a child. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1210 | Require Youth Court to provide redacted copy of child's record to child's parent/guardian upon request of the parent/guardian. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1298 | Create MS Advisory Council on Faith-based Initiatives. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1451 | Increase fee for marriage certificates from $10 to $20, and for processing marriage license applications, from $20 to $30. House voted 70-47, but it needed 71 votes. It was later reconsidered and approved 84-29. |
| SB2311 | Create MS Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, to provide accounts for individuals with disabilities. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2342 | Termination of parental rights - technical corrections. Passed Senate 48-1. |
| SB2483 | Divorce - add 2-year separation as a ground for. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2520 | Require Youth Court to provide redacted copy of child's record to child's parent/guardian upon request of the parent/guardian. Passed Senate 51-0. |
| SB2514 | Create MS Advisory Council on Faith-based Initiatives. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2680 | Clarify alternative of relative care for abused and neglected children. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2695 | Sheriff or police chief to notify parent or guardian of minor released after arrest. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2703 | Divorce - add domestic violence as a ground for. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2704 | Increase marriage license processing fee from $20 to $50. Awaits Senate Floor. |
Health |
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| HB 318 | Authorize grants to rural hospitals to help them stay alive or adjust to new opportunities. Passed House 113-8. |
| HB 909 | Require State Health Plan to cover annual pap smears and PSA tests. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 926 | Allow the University of MS Medical Center to form Health Care Collaboratives - joint ventures that are exempt from antitrust laws, to the extent possible, as well as the Open Meetings and Public Records Acts. Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2214 | Allow acupuncturists to provide care without a referral from a physician if they have been practicing in MS for at least 5 years. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2511 | Provide for the licensing of Naturopathic medicine practitioners. Awaits Senate Floor. |
| SB2610 | Clarify the allowable use of Cannabidiol in research of seizures and other medical conditions. Awaits Senate Floor. |
Regulation |
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| HB 539 | Require seat belts for all passengers. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB 967 | Regulate and tax fantasy sports games in the same way the state regulates and taxes casinos. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1076 | Allow counties and cities in high-poverty or high-unemployment areas to exempt an area within their jurisdiction to exempt businesses from certain regulations, in an effort to draw investment into these communities. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1216 | Direct agencies to report on laws and regulations that were put in place as a result of Obamacare, and the impact of those laws and regulations. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1265 | Require all state agency rules to be repealed after certain time unless the agency readopts them through the normal public-comment process. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1425 | Require occupational licensing boards, if they are controlled by people who are in the industry they regulate - to submit their proposed regulations and enforcement actions to the governor before they are finalized. This is in response to a US Supreme Court ruling regarding executive power that is exercised independent of a governor, if the boards are controlled "active market participants." Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2896 | Regulate and tax fantasy sports games in the same way the state regulates and taxes casinos. Awaits Senate Floor. |
Tax |
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| HB 131 | Authorize the Department of Revenue to compromise and settle certain tax liabilities. Passed House 119-0. |
| HB 480 | Require out-of-state sellers who do not have a presence in MS to collect "use tax" (similar to sales tax) on purchases made by Mississippi residents. Any money collected from this requirement would be used for road and bridge repair, with 70% going to the state department of transportation and 30% going to local governments. Originally passed House 77-40. A normally-routine procedural vote to send it on to the Senate failed, leaving the bill in limbo for the moment. |
| HB 687 | Allow public community and junior colleges to collect a debt by obtaining from the Dept of Revenue a set off against a debtor's state tax refund. Because of where it appears in the MS Code, it would also allow community and junior college officials to obtain the state and federal tax returns of the debtor. Passed House 104-14. |
| HB 699 | Authorize the Dept of Revenue to disclose certain taxpayer information to law enforcement entities. Brought up on House Floor but debate has been suspended on it. |
| HB 711 | Extend authority of Dept of Revenue to approve applications for certain "rebates" given to Hollywood and other producers under the MS Motion Picture Incentive Act. Passed House 107-15. |
| HB 804 | Require MS Gaming Commission to establish a lottery. Awaits House Floor. |
Welfare |
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| HB1090 | Requires Medicaid to contract with a company to identify dead people and non-Mississippi residents who are on the Medicad rolls, among other provisions to combat fraud in welfare programs. Awaits House Floor. |
| HB1186 | Require Medicaid to apply for waivers from Federal requirements in order to conduct pilot projects to best meet needs and control costs. Awaits House Floor. |
| SB2330 | Requires Medicaid to contract with a company to identify dead people and non-Mississippi residents who are on the Medicad rolls. Awaits Senate Floor. |