The House schedule was full of committee meetings this week, as next Tuesday’s deadline to have House Bills out of their corresponding committees quickly approaches. After Tuesday, Jan. 30, no additional bills will be added to the House calendar for consideration, and members of the House will begin meeting as a whole for longer hours to discuss the bills that made it out of committees. Despite the busy week of committee meetings, a few bills were introduced to the House floor for discussion. One bill that generated some debate was House Bill 559. The bill would authorize the Department of Finance and Administration to enter into a lease with a nonprofit for the development of a pediatric ca
Much controversy has centered around the education funding formula rewrite known as HB957. This bill passed the Mississippi House on Wednesday of this week. The controversy surrounding the bill has mostly been the product of fear, misinformation, bipartisan politics, and those individuals fueling negative talking points for their own political gain and agenda. In an attempt to shed a little light on the subject, I have included several supporting documents for anyone who might want to better educate themselves on our need for a rewrite, and just why Desoto County's entire House delegation voted for the measure. Ultimately, the legislature is attempting to move beyond a formula that is so c
Winter weather affected the Capitol City in the same way it affected much of the state this week with many schools and state departments closing, but the legislature continued with meetings as planned. The sole piece of legislation discussed on the House floor this week was House Bill 957, which aims to overhaul the current MAEP education funding formula and replace it with the Mississippi Uniform Per Student Funding Formula. The bill, based on a series of recommendations from the consulting group EdBuild, would base school funding on student enrollment rather than teacher units. It sets the base student cost at $4,800 per student with additional weights added for students with individual ne
Because it is early in the session, most legislative work is currently happening in committees where bills must be approved before they are introduced to the House as a whole. The deadline for bills to be filed is Monday, Jan. 15, so many committees are waiting until all bills are filed to hold meetings. Only one bill made it out of committee to be introduced to the House this week. In yet another effort to improve the state’s infrastructure, House Bill 722 would ensure that 35 percent of the use tax collected by the Department of Revenue would be distributed for the repair, maintenance and reconstruction of roads, streets and bridges. The 35 percent would be split three ways, with 15 percen
On January 2, 2018, the 132nd Mississippi State Legislature began the third session in its four-year term. Four new members joined the House of Representatives this past year as a result of special elections. Stacey Wilkes, R-Picayune; Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg; Cheikh Taylor, D-Starkville and Kevin Ford, R-Vicksburg joined the roster of representatives for the 2018 Legislative Session. Though it is early in the session, there were a couple of bills passed through committees and introduced on the House floor. All of the bills discussed dealt with the maintenance and repair of roads and bridges, a topic which will likely be heavily discussed this session. One measure introduced was House Bil
