Both the House and the Senate continued to debate bills on their respective floors this week. Below is a list of bills that were taken up and their current status.
HB 852 – This is the teacher pay raise bill in which the Senate replaced the language in HB 852 with their language from SB 2001. The bill provides a $1,100 raise to teachers with 0-2 years of experience and a $1,000 increase for all other teachers. It also increases the minimum salary for assistant teachers by $1,000. The House voted to concur with the Senate’s changes, so now the bill will head to the Governor’s desk for approval.
HB 633 – This bill requires the implementation of a K-12 computer science curriculum and provides for teacher development and training. HB 633 was passed and will now head to the Governor’s desk for approval.
SB 2149 – This bill requires the Mississippi Department of Education to hold school districts harmless when calculating average daily attendance for the 2020-2021 scholastic year. SB 2149 was passed and will now head to the Governor’s desk for approval.
HB 1387 – This bill sets the appropriation budget for the purpose of funding K-12 and other related educational activities for the fiscal year 2022. The Senate invited conference on HB 1387.
HB 1179 – This bill creates the William F. Winter and Jack Reed, Sr., Teacher Loan Repayment Program. This program is designed to address the teacher shortage in the state by consolidating multiple unfunded repayment programs into one fully funded repayment program. The Senate invited conference on HB 1179.
HB 754 – This bill involves the dyslexia education and awareness bill that revises the provisions for determining if a student is eligible for an IEP or 504 plan so as to be in compliance with federal law. The Senate invited conference on HB 754.
HB 1123 – This bill updates standards and prescribes certain benchmarks under the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013. HB 1123 will now head to the Governor’s desk for approval.
The Senate did not take up HB 1439 and allowed the bill to die on the calendar. HB 1439 is the House’s tax cut plan which seeks to cut the individual income tax for Mississippians. The House revived the tax cut plan by inserting it into SB 2971.
Deadlines
The current deadlines for legislation are:
Monday, March 22, 2021 — Deadline to dispose of motions to reconsider concurrence or nonconcurrence in appropriations and revenue bills.
Thursday, March 25, 2021 — Deadline to concur or not concur in amendments from other House to general bills and constitutional amendments.
Saturday, March 27, 2021 — Deadline for conference reports on appropriations and revenue bills to be filed.
Monday, March 29, 2021 — Deadline for final adoption of conference reports on appropriations and revenue bills, and for conference reports on general bills and constitutional amendments to be filed.
