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This is a summary of the bills that I authored this legislative session that have survived the process, either as a stand alone bill or successfully amended in another bill. There are still revenue bills, like HB 1545, which will exempt overtime pay from state income tax, and suffrage bills that have not faced a deadline yet, but these are the bills that made it past the general bill deadline last Thursday.

HB 5 (langauge written into HB 703), which allows post-conviction DNA evidence motions to be filed in all capitol death penalty cases.

HB 34, which will allow the chancery courts and the county sheriffs to assist contractors in carrying out fines and orders related to residential construction.

HB 35 (amended into HB 1457), which will exempt checking accounts not exceeding $10,000 from seizure and execution during a bankruptcy proceeding.

HB 41 (amended into HB 1000), which will allow a person’s honorable discharge from the military to be a consideration for parole.

HB 52, which allows Ole Miss to participate in the alternative building program (whereas a private contractor can build a dorm or parking facility on university property, lease it to the IHL over 30 years to pay for construction costs, then sell it to the IHL for $1), made it out of committee and died on the calendar. But it will probably be amended on the Senate side in HB 992, which did pass.

HB 123, entitled the Mississippi Clean Indoor Air Act, which bans smoking in all government buildings in the state.

HB 125 (amended in HB 192), which makes it a misdemeanor offense to house a known sex offender in a home with children present.

HB 153, which makes the Office of Minority Business Development in MDA the official coordinating office for all state agencies that receive federal monies and let procurement and construction contracts to ensure that minority businesses are given ample opportunity to bid on such projects.

HB 772 (identical langauge with HB 733), which creates a automated victim’s notification system to update victims of crime on the status of criminal offenders.

HB 1448 (language written into HB 1321), which sets 90 days as a timely basis to pay an insurance claim that is not disputed.

I also was successful in amending HB 1121, which allows homerule in school districts and exempts Level 4 and 5 accredited districts from State Board of Education requirements, by setting a repealer for June 30, 2009.

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UPDATE: Most of the bills mentioned in the article have died in the Senate except for HB 35 (amended again in SB 2963), HB 41 (which I will try to amend again in SB 2511), HB 123 and HB 772.


UPDATE: The Governor signed HB 733 on March 15. HB 123 is on the governor’s desk, pending action by March 23. SB 2511, with HB 41 language is being considered for concurrence by the Senate. SB 2963, with the HB 35 language, is in conference, as is, SB 2527, with the HB 125 language.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.