As we enter the eighth week of session, the Senate comes off a week of substantial business with the appropriation process in full swing. Of those, the Senate passed a proposed $7.69 billion total state support budget which will continue to be deliberated throughout the session. Within this larger budget includes a $841 million budget for Institutions of Higher Learning and $298 million for Community and Junior Colleges.
The Senate met a Monday, February 17, 2025, deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider general bills and constitutional amendments originating in the Senate. The Senate faces a Monday, February 24, 2025, deadline for making requests for appropriation and revenue bills to be drafted, a Wednesday, February 26, 2025, deadline for original floor action on appropriations and revenue bills originating in the Senate, and a Thursday, February 27, 2025, deadline for reconsideration and passage of appropriation and revenue bills originating in the Senate.
On Tuesday, February 18, 2025, Senator Jeremy England, Senator Brice Wiggins and Senator Mike Seymour led presentation of Senate Resolution 39 to the Jackson County Hope Squads - students and members. The 14 area schools that comprise the Hope Squads in Jackson County consist of 203 middle and high school students who were nominated by their peers for their kind, inclusive, and trustworthy reputations, and trained in Question, Persuade, Refer, (QPR), the nationally recognized suicide prevention method.
On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, Senator Andy Berry presented a proclamation to state officers of the Future Farmers of America, (FFA), after Mississippi FFA President Laynie Dodson addressed the Senate.
On Thursday, February 20, 2025, Senator Jason Barrett and Senator Andy Berry led presentation of Senate Resolution 38, commending 17-year-old Addie Carver of Monticello, as the first person from Mississippi to win the National "Miss Teen USA" title in 37 years.
I’d like to take a few moments to discuss several important pieces of legislation that have worked through the legislative process recently.
Senate Bill 2347 - Methamphetamine - This bill has received much publicity after it moved from the Senate floor to the House for consideration. In this bill, the penalty for felony possession of methamphetamine would increase from 3 to 5 years. It would further create a misdemeanor of possession of this substance with a penalty of up to a year through the municipal or justice courts. Lastly, it encouraged the use of drug courts to help users to get clean and stay clean.
This bill was authored by Senator Sparks who has continued to look for ways to get users into treatment at an expedited speed. Following passage off the Senate floor, the bill has come under increased scrutiny with the drug courts showing that a single year of treatment has not proven to push a user to be clean and it instead creates a boomerang approach instead. As always, these concerns are crucial to this process and would have proved helpful in the drafting of this bill.
This bill is now in the House where I expect the misdemeanor offense to be stripped and the increased felony penalties to remain in tact. The overall intent of the bill was to shorten the time that an individual must wait before entering the drug court system and to increase penalties on felony possession. I’m sure you’ve heard horror stories from all sides but at the end of the day, methamphetamine addiction continues across our state and the more we work to get individuals into treatment, the better our communities thrive. If you have additional ideas, we always welcome those though building more jails is not the end all answer.
Senate Bill 2314 - Hemp Products - This bill is aimed at revising schedule I of the Uniform Controlled Substances Act to include any product derived from a hemp plant designed for ingestion that is nor approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. This is another bill by Senator Sparks that aims to get certain substances with thc properties off the shelves unless they fall under federal regulation. We see many substances of this category being used by our youth without any regulation. The last thing that we need is to allow a product that has been chemically altered to fall into our children’s hands.
Senate Bill 2515 - REFOCUS Act - This bill is often considered the bill to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in our community and senior colleges. I was asked to deliver this bill on the Senate floor and to explain it. This bill directs our colleges to cease the teaching of any DEI principle and to remove any DEI hiring practices. In the end, this bill is an effort to refocus our aim on excellence and not on the hiring or educating based on a certain color, sex, or race. Lastly, this bill would reinstate biological norms and to return to the practice of referring to every individual by his or her biological gender. This bill has now moved to the House where it will likely be amended to include K-12 educational institutions as well.
Senate Bill 2677 - Pharmacy Benefit Prompt Pay Act - This bill is authored by Senator Parks and is aimed at saving our independent pharmacies. It is common practice now for a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) to prey upon independent pharmacies. Often the drug that your purchase from a pharmacy is costing the pharmacy more that they were able to charged. These deceptive practices by the PBM companies are causing more pharmacies to close in an effort to force individuals to rely on mail order supplies instead. I can only hope that this issue gets as much discussion as the other bills. In the end, this bill is one that does involves life or death for many of our people who rely on life saving drugs.
As always, I appreciate the opportunity to serve you and hope that you will contact your legislators regarding any bill that you have strong support for or against. Hearing from you directly is the only way to send your voice to Jackson. May God continue to bless you all.
