Legislative Update 46

February 15, 2009

Dear Friends,

Voter I.D. Passes House

House Bill 1533, a bill that was amended to include photographic voter identification and early voting cleared the House on Wednesday. The bill required 73 votes to pass and received 78 votes. The floor debate was the longest since I have been a member of the House, lasting over five hours. I was the only Democrat to speak in favor of final passage.

This was a significant achievement for those of us who have worked to bring meaningful election reform to Mississippi. It is my hope that this bill will pass the Senate and be signed by the Governor this week. It is time for us to join a majority of our sister states in requiring voter identification and providing early voting.

Child First Act of 2009 and Other Bills

More than 150 bills passed in the House this week as we worked against a Thursday deadline to approve or reject bills that originated in our chamber. One of these bills, the “Child First Act of 2009,” struck a major blow for improving Mississippi’s K-12 public school program. The bill defines a “failing school” as one that does not meet student achievement standards and improvement expectations for a two-year period. It would require each district to issue an annual report on graduation rates, dropout rates, test scores, and millage rates and publish the report in a general circulation newspaper and on the district’s website. In addition to allowing the State Board of Education to declare a state of emergency in a failing district, the bill would give the Board the authority to remove a superintendent and school board members when a governor declares an “extreme emergency”. These failing school districts would be subject to annual financial audits and teachers and students would be held to higher standards. One of the more interesting requirements facing students in these districts is that they would have to maintain a 2.0 GPA to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Five bills I authored passed out of the House this week. They include a bill that would tighten identity theft laws for those who deceive or falsely represent an entity in order to open banking accounts, obtain credit cards, or other services; a bill that would place an additional fee on bail bonds to be paid into the Domestic Violence Fund; a bill that would require an individual with HIV/AIDS who breaks a health department order to register as a sex offender; a bill that would allow the Attorney General’s office to prosecute computer crimes under its official corruption investigation authority; and a bill that would allow community hospitals to file their fiscal year reports in February.

This week, we will turn our attention to bills that have passed in the Senate.

House Web casting

Don’t forget that you can follow floor debates by going to www.mpbonline.org and clicking on “House video”.

How to Contact Me

If you have any questions or concerns, I invite you to call me on my cell phone at 228-326-7649 or e-mail me at bjones@house.ms.gov. Please feel free to forward this report to folks in our district and let me know if I need to add someone to my list.

I will also be posting my updates and House related news on my campaign website at www.electbrandonjones.com.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Brandon