Legislative Update

Couple of things I wanted touch on out of the Legislature earlier in this session.

1. The House has already passed a bill, HB 364, that raises the tax on Cigarettes in Mississippi to $1. This CL article discusses the passage and some of the Senate sentiment with the probable outcome being some sort of raise in tax but not the entire $1 in HB 364. I, personally, am a fan of raising the tax and hope this just doesn't become a political football that engenders trading of favors and votes on other issues.

2. The Greenwood Commonwealth has a nice little writeup on a bill that would create a greater Homestead Exemption for seniors and how that would impact counties, specifically Leflore County.

3. The CL also has a discussion of possibly changing the way judges are selected in Mississippi (going from election to another form of selection) and the money that is now in some judicial races. The article clues in on some of the difficulties of making this change and how few think it will actually come about.