MS lawmaker narrow down bills to consider in 2024 legislative session

With yet another deadline coming and going through the Mississippi Legislature, state lawmakers have again narrowed down the number of bills and amendments they are considering passing into law this year.

Tuesday was the legislative deadline to pass general bills and constitutional amendments that originated in the other chamber through committees.

Bills that made the cut through Tuesday's deadline included legislation to establish online gambling in Mississippi, a bill to expand Medicaid to some of the state's poorest workers, a new method to fund K-12 education, redraw judicial districts in the state, a bill to strictly define sex in the state and restrict where transgender people can use certain public facilities.

Here are some of the bills that survived:

Online sports betting

House Bill 1774 passed through the House in February and sat quietly with the Senate Gaming Committee until Tuesday morning, when committee Chairman Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, introduced a strike all amendment to the bill, leaving only state code sections intact so lawmakers could continue working on the bill.

A strike all is an amendment that redacts certain sections of a bill.

Blount said his decision came from wanting to ensure that the bill would not do any harm to existing casinos in the state.

"For a number of years, legislators looked at the mobile sports betting issue of whether people should be allowed to bet on sports on their cell phones or not or how that would work," Blount said. "We also want to have a bill that protects consumers from some of the predatory taxes that we've seen in other states. We've got a lot of issues to work on."

Originally, the bill would have allowed for mobile sports gambling, and it would require mobile companies to contract with brick-and-mortar gambling business in the state, such as casinos. Only people located in Mississippi can participate in the online wagering platforms.

Medicaid expansion

As of Tuesday, both the House and Senate have passed differing version of Medicaid expansion in Mississippi, and both include a work requirement.

The Senate last week voted to strike key provisions of the House's version, House Bill 1725, and replace it with language that would do the following:

• Cover people ages 19 to 64 making up to 99% of the federal poverty line, or about $15,000 per year, which is 39% lower than the original House version. The plan would also cost the state more than $20 million per year to implement, while the House plan would provide $1.2 billion federal aid provided to states that fully expand for the first two years of the program.

• Require people on Medicaid to work 120 hours per month, be a full-time student or in a work training program, 40 hours more than in the House plan.

• Require the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to confirm eligibility every three months, which the House plan does not account for.

• Cover about 80,000 of the state's working poor, which could be 120,000 less people than the House plan.

• Include some eligibility exceptions for parents and caregivers for children 6 years old or younger and those with proven physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from working. The House version accounted for working people who are disabled.

Wednesday morning, House Medicaid chairwoman Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, took up the Senate's plan on the floor and invited conference, which means the House rejected the Senate's plan and will now gather a group of lawmakers from each chamber to iron out a compromise.

Education funding:

in March, the House amended and passed Senate Bill 2332, which originally would have provided about $2.94 billion for K-12 education through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program.

However, the amended version just included the same language as House Bill 1453, dubbed the INSPIRE Act, which would replace the MAEP education funding formula with a group of education experts to recommend funding estimates for the state's education system. SB 2332 is awaiting approval from the Senate.

HB 1453 did not make it out of the Senate Education Committee by the Tuesday deadline, meaning the only vehicle left to lawmakers for funding reform to K-12 education will likely have to happen in conference.

Judicial redistricting

House Bill 722 passed through the Senate Judiciary Division A committee Tuesday, and it aims to update the boundaries for circuit court and chancery court districts. That bill received some criticism from Sen. Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville, who called it a "watered down judicial system" for some areas of the Delta that may lose judges and district attorneys.

Committee Chairman Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, responded by saying that areas that have declining populations lost judges in his plan.

Binary sex terminology bills

Bills originating in both the Senate and House that would require public buildings to have single-sex restrooms and changing areas, or unisex spaces designated for one person, passed through Tuesday as well. They also create a male and female designation for people based solely on birth and not their chosen gender, which could block transgender people from legal recognition and from public restrooms that match their gender.

If they are caught using "incorrect" facilities, they could be sued.

The next legislative deadline is April 10, by which time lawmakers will have to bring out general bills and constitutional amendments onto the floor or they will die.

Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at [email protected] or 972-571-2335.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Lawmakers still considering bills on education funding, Medicaid