What Survived Deadline Day?
Another legislative deadline occurred on Wednesday, with each chamber having to pass general bills the other chamber had previously passed. Among the many bills we are tracking:
Still alive are the House and Senate tax bills, which face a different deadline. Next Tuesday is the deadline for each house to pass the other’s appropriation and revenue bills. House Bill 1 is the House’s tax plan, and Senate Bill 3095 is the Senate’s. A common occurrence is for one or both houses to take up the other’s bill and insert the provisions of their own. It’s not certain that will occur in either chamber on this issue.
SB 2618, which a House committee had amended to include district-to-district public school choice, was not brought up on the House floor for a vote, so it died. Because the Senate had killed all House bills that contained any form of school choice (except one, described below), that issue is “dead dead” for the session. (The saying around the Capitol is that a matter is only truly dead when it is “dead, dead, dead,” which is at the end of the legislative session. So, theoretically, something could change, but it is highly unlikely.)
HB 809 is the one bill related to school choice policy that is still alive. It would clarify the law allowing military families to choose the public school district their child attends. The House version would extend that policy to all National Guard families, and the Senate version would only apply it to some. It’s likely that bill will go to a conference committee to try to work out the differences.
HB 1768, the appropriations bill for the state Department of Education, includes the funding for Special Needs Education Scholarship Accounts. That bill, like virtually all appropriations bills, will be going to conference. House and Senate leaders have repeatedly said publicly they will add funds to cover the families on the waiting list for that program, but lawmakers need to continue to hear from you. Now is the time to reach out to your lawmakers and ask them to fund the waitlist. Click here to contact your lawmakers!
HB 1614 provides for expungement for some crimes committed by victims of human trafficking. That bill passed each house in different forms and is now in conference.
SB 2248 is the Fresh Start Act. It would prohibit licensing boards and commissions from denying a license to a person simply because they have a criminal record, unless the crime relates to the occupation for which they are seeking a license. This bill passed the House this week with some amendments and will likely go to conference.
HB 1001 will go to conference. It allows people in prison to sell crafts they make through Mississippi Prison Industries.
SB 2242 and SB 2357 would expand the prison work release program, where inmates nearing their release date work in normal jobs during the day and return to prison after work. They have passed both houses indifferent forms and will go to conference.
SB 2290, which creates a task force on a “one door” policy for the state, has passed both houses and is headed to the governor. This would provide for a study on whether and how to put recipients of government assistance on a track toward employment.
Bills that died this week
In addition to SB 2618, discussed above, SB 2233 died this week. This was a bill to study the prevalence of dyslexia in the prison population. It had been approved by the Senate and by a House committee but was not brought up for a vote by the full House.
HB 1476 also died. It would have expanded the prison work release program. This was not brought up on the Senate floor because there are two bills (SB 2242 and SB 2357, mentioned above) that deal with the same issue, so there was no need for this additional bill.
