Legislators did not convene until Tuesday afternoon due to travel conditions following last weekend’s ice storm. This week was filled with committee meetings, as next Tuesday, February 3, is the deadline for committees to pass general bills originating in their chamber. Any bill not passed out of committee in its chamber of origin by Tuesday’s deadline will die on the calendar. We will issue our first bill tracking spreadsheet next Friday and it will reflect all bills that survive Tuesday’s deadline.
This week’s significant developments include:
The House Universities and Colleges Committee met Wednesday morning. HB 1284, a bill introduced by Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia that calls for the consolidation of six community colleges into three, was on the agenda but Chairman Donnie Scoggin of Ellisville announced he was not bringing the bill up for consideration because it had been introduced without proper vetting or study. Chairman Scoggin does not intend to meet again before Tuesday’s deadline, so HB 1284 should die on the calendar Tuesday night.
House Education met Wednesday afternoon and passed 11 bills. Two bills of note are HB 1463 which creates a student 24/7 teletherapy pilot project to be administered by MDE and HB 1578 which requires public schools to adopt policies to educate students about the dangers of social media and predators. HB 1463 requires funding so it is headed to House Appropriations for consideration while HB 1578 is headed to the full House for consideration.
Senate Education met yesterday morning and quickly passed four noncontroversial bills. HB 2, the House’s dangerous school choice bill, has been referred to Senate Education but the committee has not considered the bill. Chairman Dennis DeBar plans to meet again before Tuesday’s deadline. Please continue to share your concerns about HB 2 with your senator. Please note that HB 2 is not subject to Tuesday’s committee deadline as it met the deadline when it was passed by House Education on January 14.
House Education met again yesterday afternoon. Although Chairman Rob Roberson intended to take up HB 1126, the House’s $5,000 teacher pay raise bill, the committee did not consider the bill as a number of committee members could not attend the meeting. House Education is meeting again Tuesday and will consider HB 1126 at that time. The committee passed 12 bills yesterday, including HB 1292 and HB 1528.HB 1292 requires all school board members to be elected which will prevent municipal school districts from having appointed board members. It was amended in committee to allow for the recall of a board member if 30% of the county electorate petitions for such and the governor approves the petition. HB 1292 now heads to the full House for consideration. HB 1528 revises licensure provisions related to ed prep programs, including granting the State Board of Education the authority to maintain criteria (i.e., ACT score, Praxis Core score, or minimum GPA) for entry and exit requirements; aligning Teach Mississippi Institute (TMI) coursework so that candidates receive instruction designed to support students with disabilities and may transfer credit towards Master of Arts in Teaching program completion and AA licensure; and, expanding opportunities for all Mississippi ed prep providers to seek State Board approval to offer TMI. HB 1528 now heads to the full House for consideration.
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