Mississippi lawmakers hit major deadline

The Mississippi legislature is built around calendars. What do we mean? Bills need to advance by a certain date, or they are dead.

That is what most bills experienced with Tuesday’s deadline for House and Senate committees. Next week, the surviving bills need to clear their respective chambers, or they will be dead.

With that, here is a review of what is still alive among bills we are following. As always, these priorities reflect our commitment to preserving culture, protecting parental and individual rights, promoting families, and addressing critical issues affecting our communities.

Already Passed!

Legislation that will prohibit DEI is moving quickly in both chambers. House Bill 1193, sponsored by Rep. Joey Hood, would prohibit DEI in all public K-12 schools, as well as colleges and universities. It passed the House on Wednesday. Senate Bill 2515, sponsored by Sen. Nicole Boyd, prohibits DEI in colleges and universities. It cleared the Senate on Thursday.

What Else Is Still Alive?

These are key bills we highlighted for you last week:

• House Bill 1081, sponsored by Rep. Kimberly Remak, which would declare the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children.
• House Bill 120, sponsored by Rep. Lee Yancey, which would prohibit health care providers and institutions from providing health care to children without parental consent.
• House Bill 188, sponsored by Rep. Gene Newman, which would require that all restrooms and changing rooms in a correctional facility be single sex.
• Senate Bill 2192, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, which would require the identification of sex on a driver’s license to be consistent with the sex of the individual that was determined at birth. This has advanced out of the Senate.
• House Bill 599, sponsored by Rep. Price Wallace, which would add civil liabilities for child sexual exploitation, distribution of child pornography and other obscene matters by commercial entities.
• Senate Bill 2309, sponsored by Sen. Joey Fillingane, which would create a crime for the sexual grooming of children.
• Senate Bills 2608, 2650, 2651, and 2653, all sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, would make various improvements to the state’s campaign finance laws.

What Died?

Many times different lawmakers introduce similar bills. For example, there were at least five bills related to parental rights. When that happens, you usually have one bill that advances and the others die for the sake of consolidation.

Here is a look of the bills that died that did not have any companion bill advance:

• Senate Bill 2156, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, as well as House Bill 1371, sponsored by Rep. Dan Eubanks, House Bill 763, sponsored by Rep. Randy Boyd, and House Bill 161, sponsored by Rep. Gene Newman, which would allow students to have an excused absence for religious/moral instruction.
• House Bill 1391, sponsored by Rep. Bubba Carpenter, which would allow school districts to employ or accept the service of chaplains.
• Senate Bill 2159, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, and House Bill 1410, sponsored by Rep. Randy Boyd, which would require the legislature to approve certain federal funds school districts receive.
• Senate Bill 2182, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, which would require school districts to publicly post learning materials and instructional activities.
• Senate Bill 2536, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Tate, and House Bill 1355, sponsored by Rep. Charles Blackwell, which would require schools to provide character education and teachings on the success sequence.
• House Bill 1329, sponsored by Lance Varner, which would require SNAP benefits recipients to either work or be part of a training program as part of their eligibility.
• Senate Bill 2722, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Tate, and House Bill 1217, sponsored by Rep. Bubba Carpenter, which would allow the state to use funding to provide marriage counseling for military families and first responders.
• House Bill 1577, sponsored by Rep. Celeste Hurst, which would adjust the time an individual could collect unemployment compensation benefits based on the state’s unemployment rate.
• Senate Bill 2224, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, which would add Mifepristone and Misoprostol, which are both abortion inducing drugs, to the Uniform Controlled Substance Act.
• Senate Bill 2048, sponsored by Sen. Michael McLendon, and House Bill 148, sponsored by Rep. Mark Tullos, which would create a felony for assisting minors in obtaining an abortion across state lines without parental consent.
• Senate Bill 2370, sponsored by Sen. Joey Fillingane, which would prohibit financial institutions from discriminating against someone because of their political or religious beliefs.
• Senate Bill 2611, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, and House Bill 1533, sponsored by Rep. Jill Ford, which deletes the requirement of counselors to abide by the American School Counselor Association radical Code of Ethics.
• Senate Bill 2194, sponsored by Angela Hill, which would delete the exemption for any public or private school library from distributing obscene materials.
• Senate Bill 2511, sponsored by Sen. Joey Fillingane, and House Bill 1440, sponsored by Rep. Fred Shanks, which would create the Mississippi Immigration Enforcement Act of 2025.

Check back soon when we have a recap of what is still alive following next week’s deadline.