The 2022 Regular Session of the Mississippi Legislature is two-thirds complete. March 9 was the deadline for floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments that originated in the opposite chamber. Lawmakers, particularly the Senate, worked late to dispose of their floor calendars. All bills that did not continue past the deadline are dead for the session. The next major hurdle is on March 15, which is the deadline for revenue-related bills and appropriations bills from the other chamber to be approved on the floor. Included in this group of bills is the House of Representatives-passed income tax elimination bill, House Bill 531, which is now in the Senate Finance Committee awaiting consideration.
There are a series of key deadlines for the next two weeks focusing on the Senate and House sending bills to conference; Saturday, March 26 is the day that conference reports on appropriations and revenue bills must be filed. Final Sine Die adjournment remains scheduled for April 3.
On Wednesday’s floor deadline day, the Senate approved HB 1509 that would allow individuals to raise religious objections to Covid-19 vaccinations. The Senate considered several floor amendments, but only adopted the amendment to insert a reverse repealer in the bill. The reverse repealer automatically sends the bill to a conference committee for further negotiations One failed amendment would have made the law apply to all vaccinations. Opponents of this amendment raised a point of order and Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann, upon consultation with the Senate Parliamentarian, upheld the point of order. A number of Senators asked for a roll call vote on the point of order ruling. It was upheld, but numerous Republican Senators voted against the Senate leadership on the matter.
Senate Bill 2820, authored by Senator Albert Butler (D-Port Gibson), made it past this week’s deadline. The measure would establish a Covid-19 hospital expanded capacity program to provide funding to hospitals to increase treatment capacity related to the pandemic. SB 2820 is now headed to conference for further negotiations. The program would be administered by the Mississippi State Department of Health and seeks to allow hospitals to add intensive care units or negative pressure rooms to increase availability.
A bill to extend postpartum coverage up to one year died on the House calendar on Wednesday after passing overwhelmingly in the Senate earlier this year. SB 2033, authored by Sen. Kevin Blackwell (R-Southaven), would have been applied to women on the Medicaid program. House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) indicated he believed the bill was an extension of Medicaid expansion, which he opposes. Currently, Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate in the country. This is the second consecutive year such legislation has died in the House.
HB 365 has passed both the Senate and House of Representatives and now goes to Governor Tate Reeves to be signed. Representative Sam Mims (R-McComb) sponsored this bill which would establish the Mississippi rural hospital loan program in the State Department of Health and provide loans to rural hospitals and assist the hospitals in providing needed direct health care services. The Governor’s response deadline is March 16.