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The Mississippi House of Representatives adjourned this morning after spending the week voting on bills to meet yesterday’s deadline. The House has passed over 150 bills, while the Senate passed over 100. When each chamber adjourned yesterday afternoon, a number of bills died on the calendar since they weren’t passed prior to the deadline. You can view the bills that are still alive here.

Several education bills were advanced by the House this week. HB 1224 rewards high-achieving school districts like Madison County by exempting them from bureaucratic reporting requirements and expanding their freedom to operate locally. I was also happy to support HB 1227, which eliminates the M-STAR teacher evaluation system and allows individual districts the freedom to use their preferred evaluation methods.

The House passed several bills dealing with our criminal justice system, including a version of the “Rivers McGraw Act,” which establishes notification requirements and protections for juvenile offenders. I was proud to support a bill that implements changes recommended by the state’s Reentry Council, aimed at helping the formerly incarcerated reenter society and become productive, taxpaying members of the workforce.

You can view a full breakdown of each bill we passed this week, along with an explanation and my vote, on this week’s blog post here.

I enjoyed welcoming Natalie Bretheim to the Capitol this week. Natalie is a 6th grader at Olde Towne Middle School in Ridgeland. She was recently crowned Miss Mississippi Upper Elementary 2017, and represents her title on an anti-bullying platform called B.R.A.V.E. I am proud of Natalie and the work she does advocating for this cause and representing our state!

This coming week, the House will return to working in committees to consider bills passed over by the Senate. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns, or if I can help you in any way.

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