With general House Bills out of the way, representatives began working on House Appropriations Bills, which will determine how much money is given to various state agencies. The House was responsible for looking at the preliminary budgets of about 50 state agencies, including the Departments of Education, Transportation, Health, Medicaid and Human Services. These bills represent half of the state’s budget; the other half is currently being considered by the Senate and will be sent to the House for consideration later in the legislative session. Budgets included reverse repealers, a clause which ensures that a bill cannot become law before going to a conference committee for further revisions
The House met as a whole throughout the week to discuss general bills that made it out of committee and onto the calendar. Thursday, Feb. 14 was the deadline for representatives to discuss these general bills. Any bills not discussed in session by this deadline died on the calendar. The bills that were considered this week dealt with a variety of topics. One of the most debated bills from this week was House Bill 732. I was a co-author of this bill and voted yes. The bill prohibits an abortion of a fetus once a heartbeat is detected, except if the mother’s life or health is in danger. A heartbeat is usually detected around the sixth week of a pregnancy, which would make this law, if enacted,
The fifth week of the 2019 legislative session proved to be the busiest thus far. Committee meetings to discuss House bills wrapped up early in the week because of Tuesday’s general bills deadline. Right before the deadline to pass bills out of committee on Tuesday, the House called a last minute committee meeting and passed out a "Heartbeat Bill" (HB 732) which the Governor has indicated he would sign into law if it were to make it thought the House and Senate. The House convened Wednesday through Friday to discuss the legislation that made it to the calendar. The bills that were considered dealt with a variety of topics. House Bill 816, or the Mississippi Educational Talent Recruitment Act
Before the legislative week began, I was honored to be a part of the official ground breaking for the new National Guard Armory to be built in Nesbit, Mississippi (my own district 25). The project will cost in excess of $30 million dollars, and will be a major God send for our north Mississippi guard units. You can read more about that at: http://www.desototimes.com/news/national-guard-groundbreaking-for-new-center-held/article_9f7ab7b6-2382-11e9-9223-5b5fe2bed1d3.html Committees met frequently during the fourth week of the legislative session, as next Tuesday’s deadline to have House Bills out of their corresponding committees quickly approaches. After Tuesday, Feb. 5, no additional gener
