1/28/19-2/1/19 Weekly Session Recap
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:
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 general bills will be added to the House calendar for consideration. Members will also meet in session for longer periods of time to discuss the bills that have made it out of their respective committees.
Although most work is still happening in these committee meetings, several bills reached the House floor and were discussed.
House Bill 4 was one of the bills that made it out of committee and onto the floor. The bill would allow private employers to give a permissive preference for certain veterans when hiring. After little debate, HB 4 passed unanimously with a vote of 118-0 and has been sent to the Senate for consideration.
A number of other bills were introduced with topics including insurance regulation, corrections and local government affairs. All bills that reached the House floor and were voted on were passed.
On Wednesday, Governor Phil Bryant signed the Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act (HB 366) into law. The law will allow electric cooperatives around the state to provide broadband internet service to its electric customers.
This week, the House recognized the efforts of the Lady Bobcats Softball Team from Jones County Junior College for their National Championship season in 2018. Other visitors at the Capitol from this week included the Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians, the Mississippi Library Association and the Mississippi chapter of the Human Rights Campaign.
On Thursday, I was honored by a surprise visit from the Mississippi State Director of the Convention of States, Ron Scarbrough, who presented me with a "True Patriot's" Pin/Medal for my continued work in helping them try and reign in our out of control federal government's spending through a Constitutional Article V Convention of States Resolution. All of us must continue to work hard at insuring that our children receive a country that is full of the promise and freedoms that we have enjoyed over the years as opposed to one with crippling debt and the lack of opportunity the debt will produce.
