MS Marriage Laws

The Clarion Ledger in Jackson had an intersting editorial today referencing HB 167. Link to the editorial is here. Basically the thought is that the time has passed where a 3 day waiting period and a blood test are now obsolete (and more so, an obsticle for tourism and the drive-thru wedding that casino destinations are known for). Does anyone have any thoughts on changing the law, Is Mississippi in the dark ages or is this just another left-wing progression pushed on Mississippians.

Favorite Proposals

Not much is making news in legislation this week, more talk about Haley Barbour filing his financial report showing before campaigns even get fired up he raised the 3rd largest amount ever, in Mississippi state politics. Due to the slowness of the week I wanted to mention a favorite proposal of mine, House Resolution 1 proposed by Jamie Franks.

It, quiet simply, would place House Roll Call votes on the internet for public viewing I am not really sure why it hasn't been like this in the past, especially since they put in the new boards and voting boxes a couple of years ago.

If you have a proposal you like or would like to discuss let us know.

State of the State

Here is a link to Governor Barbour's State of the State address from last night. While not legal persay it gives a good indication of upcoming veto's and legislative pushes from the governor's office and Mississppi Republicans in general.

Think of it what you will, if someone wants to talk about a specific part of it post a comment and we can run with it.

Katrina victim defeats State Farm yesterday

I feel like we would be remiss from mentioning a first major court victory for a homeowner who lost their house in Hurricane Katrina and was denied coverage by their insurer. Here is a link to the article reflecting on the 200k-plus in compensatory damages and 2.5 million in punitive damages awarded to the plaintiffs.

I am a little too close to this situation to talk about specifics with Katrina lawsuits but some of the other mods on this board may want to talk more about this ruling and what may or may not come of it and the other cases filling the coastal county's dockets.

HB 238 - K-12 Education Full Funding Passes the House

Not necessarily the most exciting topic but in an election year it looks like no one wants to squabble over Education funding. For more details see the Daily Journal article, the Hattiesburg American article or this Clarion Ledger article, all of which led their papers today. The vote was 119-1 in the House and the Governor says at this level of full funding (they moved the number down a couple of week ago) he will sign it.

On the more political side of it I think we saw a backdoor compromise between parties that don't like each other. It appears to me that the Democrats pushed hard and loud for fully funding MAEP even before the session started. Barbour and the Republicans balked and contentiousness seemed in the air. However, Ed Chief, Hank Bounds seemed to recalculate the numbers for MAEP, the number went down and now Barbour has an amount he is willing to spend and the Democrats get a fully funded MAEP (even though it is less than previous thought). It looks like this may actually be a year for bipartisanship (and spending) with elections right around the corner.

Link to the actual text of HB 238.

Judge Leslie Southwick

Judge Southwick after several years as a Mississippi Court of Appeals judge has been nominated by President Bush for appointment to the 5th circuit. For a Clarion Ledger editoral about this see here.

This nomination has my full support, as if it needed it, as I have known Judge Southwick for about 5 years meeting him while in lawschool as he taught an Administrative Law class I took. This is a man of great intellect (teaching atleast 3 different subjects at Mississippi College School of Law in Ethics, Administrative Law and Oil and Gas), a sharp humor, and a very good and thorough writer as evidenced by his Court of Appeals opinions which can be found at the MS Supreme Court website, here. I also personally like how Judge Southwick doesn't mind writing dissents and it helps to further show he isn't lazy and takes the position of appellate judge as serious as it should be viewed (unlike some other appellate judges out there).

Raising the Minimum Wage in Mississippi?

This seems to be one of the most talked about topics early this legislative session (excepting the grumbling about Taxes, MAEP and the Democrats with their Day 1 budget bills). House Bill 237 raising the minimum wage from the federally mandated $5.15 to $6.25 and then $7.25 in 2008 passed the house early this week only to be held on a motion to reconsider before it was released to the senate. Linked below is the most recent article from the Clarion Ledger regarding this hot topic. LINK

We welcome any discussion on this or other topics.

2007 Legislative Calendar

Link to the official calendar.

1/10 Deadline for making REQUESTS for general bills and constitutional amendments to be drafted.***

1/15 Deadline for INTRODUCTION of bills and constitutional amendments.*

1/30 Deadline for COMMITTEES TO REPORT bills and constitutional amendments originating in OWN House.*+

2/8 Deadline for ORIGINAL FLOOR ACTION on bills and constitutional amendments originating in OWN House.*

2/9 Deadline for reconsideration and passage of bills and constitutional amendments originating in OWN House.*

2/12 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider bills and constitutional amendments originating in OWN House.*

2/21 Deadline for ORIGINAL FLOOR ACTION on APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills originating in OWN House.

2/22 Deadline for RECONSIDERATION AND PASSAGE OF APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills originating in OWN House.

2/23 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills originating in OWN House.

2/27 Deadline for COMMITTEES TO REPORT bills and constitutional amendments originating in OTHER House.*+

3/7 Deadline for ORIGINAL FLOOR ACTION on bills and constitutional amendments originating in OTHER House.*

3/8 Deadline for RECONSIDERATION AND PASSAGE of bills and constitutional amendments originating in OTHER House.*

3/9 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider bills and constitutional amendments originating in OTHER House.*

3/13 Deadline for ORIGINAL FLOOR ACTION on APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills originating in OTHER House.

3/14 Deadline for RECONSIDERATION/PASSAGE of APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills originating in OTHER House.

3/15 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills originating in OTHER House.

3/16 Deadline to concur or not concur in amendments from OTHER House to APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills.

3/18 Deadline for INTRODUCTION of LOCAL and PRIVATE bills that are REVENUE bills.

3/19 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider concurrence or nonconcurrence in APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills.

3/22 Deadline to CONCUR or not concur in AMENDMENTS from OTHER HOUSE to GENERAL bills and CONSTITUTIONAL amendments.

3/24 Deadline for CONFERENCE REPORTS on APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills to be filed.**+

3/25 Deadline for INTRODUCTION of LOCAL and PRIVATE bills that are not REVENUE bills.

3/26 Deadline for FINAL ADOPTION of CONFERENCE REPORTS on APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills and for CONFERENCE REPORTS on GENERAL BILLS and CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS to be filed.**+

3/27 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider conference reports on APPROPRIATIONS and REVENUE bills.

3/28 Deadline for first consideration of conference reports on general bills and constitutional amendments.

3/29 Deadline for filing conference reports on general bills and constitutional amendments that had been recommitted for further conference.+

3/30 Deadline for adoption of conference reports on general bills and constitutional amendments after recommittal.

3/31 Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider conference reports on general bills and constitutional amendments.

4/1 SINE DIE

* Appropriation, revenue, and local and private bills, and bills to restore suffrage are excluded from these deadlines. For purposes of the deadlines herein set forth, the term "revenue bills" shall include only those bills whose primary purpose is to increase or decrease taxes or to authorize the issuance of bonds or the borrowing of money. Bills which are primarily for regulatory purposes which have revenue provisions included shall not be considered as revenue bills for deadline purposes. The deletion from a bill of the features which made it a revenue bill shall render the bill a general bill for deadline purposes.

** Conference reports on all bills must be filed with the Secretary/Clerk no later than the time of adjournment on the day prior to being called up and considered. Appropriation bills which actually appropriate money and are recommitted for further conference are excluded from the requirement that the subsequent conference report be filed and lay on table one (1) day before being considered; however, original action must be taken on all appropriation conference reports by 2:00 p.m. on the 84th/119th day and subsequent reports must be filed no later than 6:00 p.m.

*** Requests for general bills and constitutional amendments to be drafted must be made no later than 8:00 p.m. on the 9th/45th day. The Rules Committee of the House or Senate, as the case may be, may authorize any member of its respective house to make requests, for one or more general bills or constitutional amendments to be drafted, after the expiration of the deadline for making such drafting requests but before the deadline for introduction of bills and constitutional amendments, upon a determination by the Rules Committee that such drafting requests are in response to conditions of an emergency nature arising subsequent to the deadline for making requests for general bills and constitutional amendments to be drafted.

+ Committee reports and conference reports that are subject to being filed on these deadlines must be filed with the Secretary/Clerk no later than 8:00 p.m.

Whenever the word "day" appears in this rule, it shall mean calendar day.

The above schedule shall not be deviated from except by the passage of a concurrent resolution adopted by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the membership of the House and Senate present and voting.

2007 Legislative Session starts today

I wanted to give a couple of important items regarding the session.

To reach members of the Mississippi House in session: (601) 359-3770. To send a fax, (601) 359-3728.

To reach members of the Mississippi Senate in session: (601)359-3770. To send a fax, (601) 359-3935.

Please be nice to the ladies who answer the phones, I personally know a couple of them from an internship I had at the capitol a few years ago and they put up with a lot of crap from a lot of rude people who should know that there is nothing the secretarial staff can do but pass along the message.

Also if you have any ideas for proposed legislation get it on it, NOW. Deadlines for dropping bills are early every year except the first after an election (next year). I believe the deadline is in the middle of January. If you want to be an actual part of the process then go with a good idea, written out, preferably in bill format that way they can just send it to the committee attorney to make sure it is correctly formatted to be dropped in the box.