The Legislative Report Header
January 7, 2022
The Legislative Report:
2022 Mississippi Legislative
Regular Session Begins
The Mississippi Legislature opened the 2022 session at noon, Tuesday, January 4th. This year will be a busy year at the Mississippi Capitol as lawmakers face major issues such as redistricting, medical marijuana, income tax elimination, and teacher pay. The state also has an extra $4.2 billion to spend due to federal monies and increased tax revenue. It is not unlikely that legislators may either extend the legislative session or come back for a special session in order to handle all of the workload that is before them this year. The Senate Education Committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday, January 5, 2022; however, that meeting was rescheduled for the week of January 10, 2022.
House Bill 384
arrow district boundary wall
One of the bills taken up on the House floor this week was House Bill 384. Under this bill, legislators seek to reapportion the Mississippi congressional districts due to the recent 2020 census. Representative Jason White presented results from the 2020 census and the committee’s plan named “Magnolia 1”. Below are a summary of those facts:

  1. Mississippi’s statewide population has deceased by about 6,000 people since 2010.
  2. Mississippi’s 2010 population was 2,967,297. The 2020 Population is 2,961,279.
  3. Most of the state’s population was lost from Congressional District 2. There are approximately 65,000 fewer people in that district.
  4. Population fluctuation in each congressional district are as follows: District 1 had an increase of 2.2%, District 2 had a decrease of 9.08%, District 3 had an increase of 1.24%, and District 4 had an increase of 4.82%.

Due to the loss in population of District 2, the Congressional Redistricting Committee had to make up for the lost population in that district. The United States Supreme Court has held that congressional districts must be as “equal as possible”. This means that each district must contain approximately the same number of people. Other constitutional and legal requirements that must be met are that the districts must be compact and contiguous, and must involve communities of interest. Under the Magnolia 1 Plan, the new populations of each congressional district would be approximately 740,320 people. Below is each county that would be impacted by Magnolia 1:

  1. Adams, Wilkinson, Franklin, and Amite Counties would be moved from District 3 to District 2.
  2. Marion County would be moved from District 3 to District 2.
  3. Jones County would be split between District 3 and District 4.
  4. The split in Clarke County would be removed and instead the entire county would now be in District 3.
  5. Winston County would be moved from District 1 into District 3.

Representative Robert Johnson III offered an amendment to the proposed plan, arguing that the current plan does not meet the compactness standard. He stated that under the proposed plan, District 2 would encompass 40% of the state. The amendment vote failed with 43 voting for the amendment and 76 voting against.

To see the proposed Magnolia 1 plan, click here and click here.
Recent Bills
Outside of HB 384, additional bills have begun to be introduced in both the House and the Senate. The first bill, HB 354, authorizes excused absences at school board meetings for school board members in the event of a family emergency. Under the bill, a family emergency would be classified as the illness or death of an immediate family member. Another recent bill is SB 2048 which would base a local school board member’s salary scale on school district student enrollment.

To view the bills that have been assigned to the House Education Committee, click here.

To view the bills that have been assigned to the Senate Education Committee, click here.
Deadlines
post it reminder bell
  • Wednesday, January 12, 2022 — Requests for general bills and constitutional amendments to be drafted.
  • Monday, January 17, 2022 — Introduction of general bills and constitutional amendments.
  • Tuesday, February 1, 2022 — Committees to report general bills and constitutional amendments originating in their own house.
  • Thursday, February 10, 2022 — Original floor action on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in their own house.
Day at the Capitol
MSBA’s Day at the Capitol has been postponed until further notice.
Questions?
We're Here For You!
austin gilbert
Austin Gilbert, Esq.
MSBA Policy Manager
601-924-2001
Connect with us!
MISSISSIPPI SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
Denotris R. Jackson, M.Ed., Executive Director
380 Zurich Drive │ Ridgeland, MS 39157 │ 601-924-2001 │ msbaonline.org