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Your Mississippi House of Representatives spent most of this week debating and voting on legislation. Thursday was the deadline for the House and Senate to vote on bills originating in that chamber.

The House worked to consider each bill that was passed out of committee. Dozens of new laws made it past this deadline, while a handful died.

Here’s a look at some of the significant bills that were passed by the House this week:

• HB 1344 improves the business climate in our state by removing regulations that prevent distilleries from selling their own products on site. While the state’s alcohol system is still heavily regulated and in need of more reform, this expands freedom for some businesses.

• HB 1343 paves the way for the operation of automated vehicles by stating that certain traffic regulations don’t apply to automated vehicles. We should seek to reduce restrictions that prevent the development and deployment of new technology in our state.

• HB 1036 reduces regulations on the state’s district schools. This bill modifies the compulsory attendance law to make it easier for students who participate in extracurricular activities to meet attendance requirements.

• HB 1418 aims to reduce government bureaucracy by requiring the legislative PEER committee to conduct a detailed review of state agencies and their missions. The goal is to identify agencies no longer needed to accomplish their stated mission and to reduce the size of state government.

You can see every bill that the House considered on my weekly vote post by clicking here. I’ve included a short description of what each bill does, how I voted, and why.

At this point, the House and Senate will now “swap” bills. The House will consider bills that passed out of the Senate and vice versa. Next week will include more committee meetings as committees vet these bills and decide which should move forward in the process.

As the session moves forward, the House will also start to consider more revenue bills dealing with the state’s expenses and budget. I’ll keep you updated on these measures as they move forward.

You can scroll through a list of all of the bills that are still alive in the legislature here.

Be sure to like my Facebook page, where you can see the live stream of debate from the House each day.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments about matters before the legislature, or if I can help you in any way.

It’s an honor to serve you!

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