Latest Updates - Donnie Scoggin

Future Leaders of Jones County and Leadership Jones County

February 10th Legislative Update Future Leaders of Jones County and Leadership Jones County This was the sixth week of the 2020 Legislative Session. House members had a busy week full of committee meetings and hearings. The deadline for the introduction of general bills and constitutional amendments is Monday, February 17, so members will remain busy over the next few weeks deciding which drafted bills will make it onto the House floor. On Tuesday, Speaker Philip Gunn was presented the Angel Award by the Mississippi Center for Violence Prevention and was recognized for his commitment to fight human trafficking. In October 2018, Speaker Gunn’s Commission on Public Policy hosted a Human Trafficking Summit, and last session, the House passed House Bill 571 which made it illegal for a person under the age of 18 to be charged with prostitution. After being held on a motion to reconsider at the end of last week, House Bill 95 came before the House again. The bill would provide that the Commissioner…

Update for February 3rd 2020 Administrators from Ellisville State School were at the Capitol discussing improved mental health services. This was the fifth week of the 2020 Legislative Session. Floor action has been light because the deadlineto file general bills is still over a week away. Bills must be filed and then passed out of committee beforethey are considered by the entire House. The deadline for the introduction of general bills andconstitutional amendments is Monday, February 17.One bill that reached the House floor this week was House Bill 95. The bill would provide that theCommissioner of Insurance shall resolve certain disputes between provider and the insured regardingbilling. The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 111-4. The following day, the bill was held on a motion toreconsider.This week, the House voted unanimously to seat Hester Jackson McCray (D – DeSoto). McCray won theDistrict 40 election by 14 votes in November 2019. After her opponent contested the election results, aHouse Special Committee voted unanimously last week to recommend…

Pictures From January 2020 Aubrey Register is a member of the Jones County 4-H and also the state ambassador 4-H team.Administrators from Ellisville State School were at the Capitol discussing improved mental health services.Tyler Owen, myself and Rex Buckhaults -- who was my FFA teacher Previous Next

WEEK 4 2020 in Jackson This was the fourth week of the 2020 Legislative Session. Because it is early in the session, thecommittees are just starting to meet as bills are still being drafted, so the floor action has been light.Bills must be passed out of committee before they are considered by the entire House. As a result ofthis, only one bill was voted on this week.Senate Bill 2149 is an appropriation bill that would divert an additional $400,000 to the Department ofFinance and Administration in preparation of the 2020 U.S. Census. These funds will be used to promoteand educate Mississippians about the importance of being counted by the census. The bill passed with avote of 114-5.Governor Tate Reeves delivered his first State of the State address on Monday to a joint session of theMississippi Legislature. He spoke of his plans for education, health care and workforce development.He also announced his plan to close Unit 29 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, or Parchman. This is aresponse to…

Donnie Named to Legislative Roles for 2020 Donnie Scoggin was named as Vice-chairman of Universities and Colleges Committee last week in the Mississippi Legislature. Scoggin was also named to roles on the Agriculture Committee, Judiciary B, County Affairs and Public Health Committees. This was the third week of the 2020 Legislative Session. Speaker Philip Gunn made the much anticipated announcement of committee assignments on Thursday of this week. With this announcement, legislators will now begin meeting in their respective committees. The deadline for the introduction of general bills and constitutional amendments is later in the session, and after this deadline passes, committees will meet more often. Because of the recent outbreak of prison violence across the state, legislators have begun to focus on our corrections system. The Legislative Black Caucus Criminal Justice Reform Task Force held a meeting this week to discuss different policy solutions. Many lawmakers and visitors also attended a prison reform rally held on the Capitol grounds on Friday morning. Visitors at the Capitol…

Weeks of January 6 and 13 On January 7, 2020, the Mississippi State Legislature began the first session of the new four-year term. Per the Constitution of the State of Mississippi, the first session of every term is scheduled to last 125 days, as opposed to 90 days. This is done to accommodate inaugurations, new committee chairmanships and procedural matters like choosing parking spaces and offices. House members took the oath of office on the first day before the election of Speaker of the House and Speaker Pro Tempore.

Update From the Week of March 18th This was the eleventh week of the 2019 Legislative Session. Because it is late in the session, much of theweek was spent deciding whether to concur with any changes made to House bills by the Senate or toinvite conference on those bills. In conference, representatives and senators work together to finalizethe details of each bill before they are sent to the governor. Included in the bills being sent toconference are most of the revenue and appropriations bills from both the House and Senate, which willdecide the state’s budget.On Thursday, Governor Phil Bryant signed Senate Bill 2116 into law. “The Heartbeat Bill,” as some havecalled it, makes it illegal for someone to have an abortion after there is a detectable heartbeat in thewomb. Usually this occurs at or around week six of a pregnancy. This law is now one of the mostrestrictive abortion laws in the United States.At the beginning of the week, the House welcomed two new members who won…

Update From the Week of March 11th This was the tenth week of the 2019 Legislative Session. Wednesday of this week was the deadline forthe House to discuss general Senate bills. Any Senate bills that did not make it off the calendar died.The deadline to discuss Senate appropriations and other revenue bills will occur Tuesday, March 19.Many Senate general bills were discussed and debated, including the following:Senate Bill 2770 would give teachers and assistant teachers a pay raise for the first time since the lastraises were authorized over a two year period beginning in 2014. Initially, the bill stated that salarieswould increase $1,000 to be phased in over two years. During Tuesday’s floor action, the HouseEducation Committee introduced the bill with a strike-all amendment with the same $1,000 raise.Representative Steve Holland (D-Lee) offered an amendment to the strike-all raising the amount of theincrease for teachers only from $1,000 to $4,000. The increase for assistant teachers remained thesame. Rep. Holland and several others stated that the raise is…

March 4th Legislative Update This was the ninth week of the 2019 Legislative Session. The deadline for House committees to report Senate bills occurred Tuesday at 8 p.m. Any Senate bills that did not make it out of committees died. Throughout the rest of the week, the House met to discuss bills that survived this deadline. Representatives passed a number of Senate bills, including the following: Senate Bill 2161 would amend current law by revising definitions and clarifying qualifications for the office of the State Medical Examiner and its deputies. A lengthy discussion ensued when opponents of the bill argued that the bill would not do enough to speed up the already lengthy autopsy process in the state. Proponents said that the bill would be a step in the right direction for repairing that process. The bill passed the House 81-31 without changes and is on its way to the Governor. With the passage of Senate Bill 2043, the fee for a marriage license would increase from…

Legislative Update From the Week of February 25th The end of this week marked the deadline for House appropriations and revenue bills to be introducedand passed. The House Appropriations Committee finished passing bills regarding budgets for stateagencies last week, so most legislation came from the House Ways and Means Committee.House Bill 822 from the Ways and Means Committee would impose an annual professional privilege taxof $400 on attorneys who practice law in the state, but who are not domiciled in the state and do notmaintain a regular place of business in the state. The bill passed 90-15 and has been sent to the Senatefor consideration.The Ways and Means Committee also introduced several bond bills on the House floor. Examples ofthese bills include House Bill 935, which would issue bonds to provide funds for the Small Municipalitiesand Limited Population Counties Fund; House Bill 958, which would increase the amount of bonds thatmay be issued for certain Department of Marine Resources improvements; and House Bill 1674, whichwould authorize the…