Weekly legislative roundup, Feb. 3-7

From staff reports

Education

Speaker of the House Jason White has made it clear that school choice is one of his top priorities this session, which this week translated to bad news for those who believe that public funds should stay in public schools.

HB 1078, the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act, will relax requirements around Mississippi’s ESA (Education Savings Account) program and passed out of the House Education Committee this week.

HB 1433 also passed out of the House Education Committee this week and is a true “school choice” bill. The bill would allow for students in schools that have received a D or F accountability rating during the last five years the opportunity to attend private schools on the state’s dime. The amount the family would be reimbursed is equal to the amount of money that student receives in per-pupil spending in their public school.

HB 1435, an open enrollment bill, passed the House this week by a vote of 67-46, and will allow students the ability to transfer out of their home school district to a nearby district without being granted permission by their home district to leave. The student’s per-pupil state funding would follow them to their new school district.

Democracy

There isn’t much to report here, as is often the case when it comes to the legislature’s approach (translation: its refusal) to reinstating the ballot initiative. There have been four long years of inaction and there still doesn’t seem to be much of an appetite to address the reinstatement of the ballot initiative in earnest. HCR 30 did pass out of the Constitution Committee earlier this week. It puts loads of terms and conditions on what is supposed to be pretty cut and dried direct democracy, but that’s where things currently stand. We’ll keep an eye on this one.

General Legislative Nonsense

HB 1203, sponsored by Rep. Shanda Yates (I-Jackson), prohibits camping on certain public property and is the latest effort made by the legislature to essentially criminalize homelessness without offering any substantive, meaningful policies to help move people out of poverty and into houses. Rep. John Hines (D-Greenville) offered an amendment that would, among other things, require a plan to address the homelessness issue more comprehensively and require that a specific portion of the funding in the bill be allocated toward homelessness prevention programs, housing-first initiatives and direct assistance to homeless individuals. That amendment was tabled (in other words, ignored) and the bill easily passed the House.

Hyper-partisan anti-DEI fervor also made its appearance at the Capitol this week as the Republican-led House passed a ban that would ensure everything imaginable is done to reverse changes that progressives have effected in Mississippi during the last 60 years. HB 1193 barring DEI initiatives in “hiring, admissions, and employment practices” would impact all learning institutions in the state, K-12 through colleges and universities. If a public school is found to be in violation of the law, the legislation would require their public funding to be yanked.