What is going on at the Mississippi legislature?

It has been an incredible start by the Trump Administration in his first days in office to turn around via Executive Order some of the most egregious power grabs by the federal government in my lifetime—returning free speech rights to everyday Americans, returning rights to people of faith and to those who work hard, returning rights to parents, teachers, and those who believe in just simply biology and reality. WOW, what a strong Republican start!

But what is going on in Mississippi? The 2025 Mississippi legislative session is well underway, the deadline to introduce general legislation has passed, and lawmakers are busy promoting their bills and moving legislation. In previous emails, we started to lay the groundwork on what we are working on this session.

And now as things start to unfold, we wanted to clearly share our priorities for the year. As always, these priorities reflect our commitment to preserving culture, protecting parental and individual rights, promoting families, and addressing critical issues affecting our communities.

1. Preserving Our Culture and Freedoms

Teachers’ and Parents’ Bill of Rights: These bills have died for two years in a row, but we continue to support legislation that affirms:

• Parental rights to be informed of and direct their child’s education and medical decisions.
• Protection for teachers to involve parents in sensitive matters without being forced into ideological compliance in violation of their freedom or religion and freedom of speech rights.
• Provisions for a private cause of action if these rights are violated.

👉 Bills to follow:

• House Bill 1080, sponsored by Rep. Randy Rushing, House Bill 1098, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Crawford, House Bill 1081, sponsored by Rep. Kim Remak, House Bill 1385, sponsored by Rep. Dan Eubanks, and Senate Bill 2870, sponsored by Sen. Fillingane, which would protect parents’ to make decisions about their children.
• House Bill 120, sponsored by Rep. Lee Yancey, Senate Bill 2893, sponsored by Sen. Brice Wiggins, and Senate Bill 2895, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, which would prohibit health care providers and institutions from providing health care to children without parental consent.
• House Bill 1159, sponsored by Rep. Lee Yancey, which would require parental consent for health care provided in and by public schools through the Medicaid funded comprehensive health care program called school-based health services.

Moral and Character Education:

• Support school-released time for religious or moral instruction.
• Require schools to teach respect, the value of work, and the importance of marriage through character education initiatives.
• Introduce charitable tax credits for nonprofits teaching religion and morality in schools.

👉 Bills to follow:

• 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.
• HB 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.

2. Addressing Fatherlessness and Strengthening Families

Support programs to address Mississippi’s high rate of out-of-wedlock births and fatherlessness. As I said in a recent e-mail:

“Fatherlessness and out-of-wedlock births represent a critical challenge in Mississippi, one that extends far beyond individual families and reverberates through every aspect of our communities. Addressing this issue is not about placing blame or judgment, but about confronting an undeniable reality with compassion, data-driven solutions, and new ideas. In Mississippi, 54.3% of all children are born out of wedlock. That is the second highest rate in the nation. In certain counties, this rate climbs as high as 90%. The economic implications of this crisis are stark.”

We support legislation to:

• Pilot fatherhood programs in prisons and foster care systems.
• Require retroactive child support from conception.
• Incentivize marriage and responsible parenting with tax credits.
• Promote nonprofit work focused on marriage and fatherhood through charitable tax credits.
• Include the “success sequence” in school curriculums.

👉 Bills to follow:

• 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.

3. Protecting Women and Pro-Life Values

Pro-Life Protections:

• Prohibit abortion trafficking of minor girls across state lines without their parent’s consent and enforce parental consent laws.
• Support pregnancy resource centers with increased donation caps, including individual donations. (The deadline for these bills to be filed has not yet passed).
• Ensure ethical IVF practices with safeguards against exploitation and trafficking.

👉 Bills to follow:

• Senate Bill 2364, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, and House Bill 188, sponsored by Rep. Gene Newman, which will require that all restrooms and changing rooms in a correctional facility be single sex.
• 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.

4. Opposing DEI and ESG Radical Agendas

Combat the spread of Marxist-inspired ideologies (DEI/ESG) in public institutions:

• Remove and defund DEI initiatives in schools and state-funded agencies.
• Prohibit ESG considerations in state investments and contracts.
• Enact protections for free speech and prevent discrimination against conservatives and people of faith in financial and educational institutions.

👉 Bills to follow:

• 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 2223, sponsored by Sen. Angela Hill, Senate Bill 2219, sponsored by Sen. Michael McLendon, and House Bill 1416, sponsored by Rep. Becky Currie, which would prohibit universities from starting or maintaining DEI programs.
• 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 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. And Senate Bill 2700, sponsored by Sen. Hill, which would prohibit a change to the sex of an individual on their birth certificate.

5. Protecting Children from Exploitation

Legislation to hold child victimizers accountable:

• Remove obscene materials from school libraries.
• Allow parents to force websites to remove illegal child pornography.

👉 Bills to follow:

• House Bill 701, sponsored by Rep. Jill Ford, House Bill 599, sponsored by Rep. Price Wallace, and Senate Bill 2501, sponsored by Sen. Bart Williams, which would add civil liabilities for child sexual exploitation, distribution of child pornography and other obscene matters by commercial entities.
• 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 2309, sponsored by Sen. Joey Fillingane, which would create a crime for the sexual grooming of children.

6. Election Integrity

• Campaign Finance Transparency: Mandate a public online search engine for campaign donations and improve reporting requirements.
• Foreign Lobbyist Registration: Require lobbyists representing foreign countries to register their clients.

👉 Bills to follow:

• Senate Bill 2658, sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, and House Bill 1334, sponsored by Rep. Hank Zuber, which would provide comprehensive campaign financing reform.
• Senate Bill 2558, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Tate, and House Bill 600, sponsored by Rep. Price Wallace, which would require lobbyists to report if a client is a foreign principal of a foreign adversary.
• Senate Bills 2608, 2650, 2651, and 2653, all sponsored by Sen. Jeremy England, would make various improvements to the state’s campaign finance laws.

7. Immigration

• Empowering law enforcement to keep communities safe from violent illegal aliens: Mississippi is one of the only conservative states not working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport violent illegal aliens through the 287(g) program. This bill imposes a fee on international wire transfers to fund immigration enforcement.

👉 Bills to follow:

• 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.

These initiatives are critical to safeguarding our values that have been under assault, protecting individual freedoms that we have been at risk of losing, and addressing the critical needs of our state. We are eager to work with you to advance these priorities and ensure a successful legislative session. The deadline for committees to report on bills originating in their own chamber is Tuesday, February 4th.

In his inaugural address, President Trump said, “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal—and all of these many betrayals that have taken place—and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and, indeed, their freedom.”

The tide has changed in Washington. Now, let’s go to work in Jackson! We cannot back down, we cannot rest, LET’S GO!

What are you concerned about? Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to discuss these priorities further.