Guide to the 2024 Mississippi legislative session

The 2024 legislative session is in full swing! It’s now about a month old as the 174 lawmakers continue to introduce, debate, and vote on bills at the State Capitol in Jackson.

But because it is the first session after an election year, things are a little different. To give the House and Senate time to organize for the new term, the session is extended to 125 days instead of the normal 90 days. This means most deadlines are pushed back about a month.

Navigating the legislative process can be challenging, but we want to make it easier for you with these tips for keeping up.

Cue schoolhouse rock. This handy graphic shows you how a bill becomes law:

Throughout that entire process, lawmakers have hard deadlines to follow. If a bill doesn’t advance by that point, it is dead. A few key dates to remember:

✔️ February 19: Deadline to introduce a bill

✔️ March 5: Deadline for bills to pass out of the committee they are assigned to

✔️ March 14: Deadline for floor action in the originating chamber

✔️ April 2: Deadline for committees to adopt bills from the other chamber

✔️ April 10: Deadline for floor action on bills originating in the opposite chamber

✔️ April 25: Deadline to agree (or not) on any changes made by the other chamber

✔️ April 29: Deadline for conference reports to be filed

✔️ May 3: Final deadline for adoption of conference reports

???? May 5: Sine Die

Legislative Deadlines

Here is some other information you need:

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