May 2020

Legislative committees met this week to begin debating bills that passed the opposite chamber prior to the pause in the session necessitated by the pandemic.  HB 1165, which passed the House as a mandate that computer science be taught, passed the Senate Education Committee as a vehicle to use for a distance learning initiative. Chairman […]

The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is asking the public to provide input on how K-12’s share of CARES Act funding should be spent. The Department has provided a quick online survey through which you can indicate your priorities. CARES Act education funds are intended to help schools recover some of the costs they incurred due

This evening, a bipartisan group of lawmakers came to an agreement on a plan to use a portion of Mississippi’s $1.25-billion CARES Act funding to provide relief to small businesses hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislators worked late into the night to fast-track the bill and get badly needed financial assistance to businesses in short

The Mississippi Legislature is back in session to make decisions about the appropriation of CARES Act funding. The Senate is live-streaming its hearings for public viewing with the links posted on the Legislative web site. The Education hearing will be tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1 p.m. Find the full schedule of hearings here.  April revenue numbers are in, and

The Legislature has adjourned for the weekend with a plan to return on Tuesday at 10 a.m., when they hope to have a COVID-19 relief bill drafted and ready for debate. The IRS has declined to rule on the PERS request related to the issue of retirees drawing their PERS retirement while serving in the

The Mississippi Legislature will appropriate CARES Act funds that have been in dispute, per an agreement announced today by Gov. Reeves, Lt. Gov. Hosemann, and Speaker Gunn. Please join us in thanking our legislative leaders, our senators, and our representatives for standing up for our right to a government with a system of checks and

The Legislature will return tomorrow (Thursday) to address “a plan to help small businesses across the State that are struggling amid COVID-19.” See the announcement.  Our Legislature, composed of the men and women from our communities whom we elected to represent us, is our means of having input into how the federal CARES Act funding is

In November, you elected the most pro-public education Legislature we have seen in years, and we were starting to see the fruits of that election before the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the current Legislative Session. The authority of our Legislature is now being threatened. We need your help to keep our voice strong.   Please thank the legislators

The Mississippi Legislature returned to Jackson today to affirm its authority to appropriate funds, including federal CARES Act funding.  This afternoon, the House and Senate amended SB 2772 to transfer $1.15-billion in CARES Act funding into the state’s budget contingency fund for the Legislature to appropriate when it returns in mid-May. $100-million was left in