FOCUS: 2022 Elections • Housing & Evictions • #MSWelfare Scandal • Jackson Water • Abortion • Race & Racism • Policing • Incarceration
Thousands of Mississippians with specific medical conditions will soon be able to receive medical-marijuana treatment with a physician’s approval after Gov. Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act into law late Wednesday.
Mississippi women could soon have the same protections against pay discrimination as women in 49 other states after the Mississippi House of Representatives voted to adopt a bill that guarantees equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. The Mississippi Equal Pay For Equal Work Act passed with support from 114 Republican, Democratic and independent lawmakers. Six Republican men voted no. It must still earn approval in the state senate.
Medical marijuana came a step closer to becoming a reality in Mississippi this afternoon as lawmakers in the Mississippi House of Representatives voted to approve a bill that would legalize it for some patients in the Magnolia State.
Public school teachers would gain pay bumps ranging from $4,000 to $6,000 under a plan Mississippi House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved this afternoon.
Educators would experience yearly pay raises and significant boosts every five years under a new proposal Mississippi Senate leaders unveiled Monday. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, the Senate president, announced the plan alongside Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville.
The Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act bans Mississippi prisons from shackling pregnant women and expands visitation rights for minor children.
LGBTQ rights advocates say that Gov. Tate Reeves put transgender teen and young adult lives “in danger” today by signing Senate Bill 2536, “The Mississippi Fairness Act,” banning transgender students at public schools and colleges from participating in sports teams that match their gender.
Mississippi’s Department of Archives and History’s board will continue to pick its own appointees, with Senate approval, after the Mississippi House rejected a bill that would have turned power to select board members over to the governor and lieutenant governor.
Mississippi’s K-12 public-school teachers may still get a $1,000 pay raise after lawmakers in the House and Senate reached a last-minute agreement. Some feared the raise could become a casualty amid a legislative impasse over a House tax-reform bill.
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