In the 15th week of the Mississippi legislative session, the Senate met three deadlines, passed House appropriation bills, Local and Private bills, tabled motions to reconsider and passed a rules calendar commending exemplary Mississippians, among other actions.
The Senate met a Wednesday, April 10, deadline for original floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the House; a Thursday, April 11, deadline for reconsideration and passage of general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the House; and a Friday, April 12, deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the House.
The Senate this week faced a Tuesday, April 16, deadline for original floor action on appropriation and revenue bills originating in the House; a Wednesday, April 17, deadline for reconsideration and passage of appropriation and revenue bills originating in the House; a Thursday, April 18, deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider appropriation and revenue bills originating in the House; and a Friday, April 19, deadline to concur or not concur in amendments from the House to appropriation and revenue bills, and deadline for introduction of local and private bills that are revenue bills.
The Senate passed House Bill 1823, the education appropriations bill, which includes the additional $206 million toward education. The bill also includes $50 million for a teacher pay raise.
House Bill 765 makes technical changes to the Mississippi Critical Teacher Shortage Act required to give a $1,000 pay raise for every K-12 teacher in the state. With the raise, teachers with a bachelor’s degree would start in Mississippi at $42,500.
House Bill 1669 revises qualifications for assistant teachers to get more employed and into the classroom. It was sent to the governor.
Senators agreed to a House amendment of Senate Bill 2470, which extends the sales tax holiday from two days to three days, removing sales tax on school supplies and individual items of clothing and foot apparel costing less than $100. It also sets the sales tax holiday date to the second weekend of July, giving Mississippi businesses an advantage over neighboring states whose residents are likely to travel here to shop for children’s back to school items.
House Bill 1126 establishes the “Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act” to protect minors from harmful online content. It will go to conference. A companion bill, House Bill 1196, creates the crime of sextortion and will be called “Walker’s Law.”
House Bill 1618 will, among other slight changes, give the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi (PERS) access to more actuaries to assist in future decisions.
The Senate agreed to House changes to Senate Bill 2142, which designates the American Quarter Horse as the “Official State Horse of the State of Mississippi,” and designates the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle in the world, which is native to Mississippi, the “Official Sea Turtle of the State of Mississippi.”
Bills passed that were sent to the governor for consideration were:
» House Bill 299, which would allow the Mississippi Forestry Commission to electronically accept bids for timber sales
» House Bill 922, which would have election commissioners run for office nonpartisan
» House Bill 846, which allows chancery clerks to increase fees for recording deeds to land sold for taxes and for redemption of the land
» House Bill 873, which establishes the “Purple Alert” system as an additional means to aid search of missing persons with cognitive disabilities
» House Bill 1023, which allows Department of Human Services fraud investigators to drive unmarked vehicles
» House Bill 1664, which prohibits any public service commissioner, any candidate for public service commissioner, or any employee of the Public Service Commission or Public Utilities Staff to knowingly accept any gift, pass, money, campaign contribution or any emolument or other pecuniary benefit whatsoever, either directly or indirectly, from a covered person
All bills except those sent to the governor now go back for House review and/or approval.
