JACKSON, Miss. -- Faster Internet service to all areas of Mississippi, even the most rural, could be in the offing as a result of a bill that passed the House of Representatives during the 11th week of the 2003 legislative session. The House approved its version of the "Mississippi Broadband Technology Development Act" to encourage the extension of high-speed Internet technology to citizens all around the state.  The bill, which differs from the original Senate version, is now in a Senate-House conference committee.

Under the plan, companies that provide the infrastructure needed to implement broadband technology throughout the state for the "information superhighway" would be eligible for various tax credits and exemptions. Providing this infrastructure poses an enormous cost to such providers -- estimated to be as much as $150,000 per three-mile area. Despite the significant growth of computer ownership within the more urban and suburban areas around Mississippi, development has progressed to a much lesser extent in the more rural areas, creating what some have termed a "digital divide." The new legislation holds out the promise that persons living in lesser developed regions may some day soon also have high-speed Internet access and advanced telecommunications service.

The broadband technology bill, SB 2979, was one of many measures handled this week as the Legislature moved closer to the end of the 90-day regular session which began January 7. Because the Senate did not concur in the changes made by the House, a conference committee has been formed to negotiate a final version of the bill. Similarly, there are dozens of other bills that have been changed in some manner in either chamber since being passed by the other body. Those bills are either being accepted by the opposite chamber (concurrence) or, like SB 2979, they will go to a conference committee. If an agreed compromise is not reached in a conference committee, a particular bill will die there just as surely as if it had never passed either chamber in the first place. On the other hand, bills on which the changes are agreed to in conference committee and thereafter by both chambers will be sent to the governor for his approval.  Click here to see a summary of how a bill becomes law in Mississippi.

The Mississippi Legislature operates on a strict schedule of inflexible deadlines to keep the flow of legislation moving smoothly during the prescribed number of days. In the final few weeks of a session, these deadlines all seem to converge at once as the process moves inexorably toward the scheduled sine die ("without day") adjournment, scheduled this year for Sunday, April 6.

Major deadlines this week were March 18 for floor action on appropriation and revenue bills originating in the opposite chamber. In the week ahead, March 27 is the deadline to concur or not concur in amendments to general bills that were added in the other chamber. A few days later, the respective chambers each will be considering final versions of state agency appropriation bills, and the true end of the 2003 regular session finally will be in sight.

State legislatures all across the U.S. operate in many different ways. In some, the procedures are very flexible, there being no deadlines at all for the processing of legislation, and the sessions can (and often do) continue for six months or more. In Mississippi, however, the rigid procedural rules provide for a 90-day regular session each year, except for the 120-day sessions during the first year of a new four-year term. The 2004 regular session, which will begin next January 6, will be a 120-day session.

During the 11th week, the Legislature sent several bills to the governor for his approval. Among them were HB 860 to allow local governments to assist non-profit primary health care clinics that provide health-care services to residents who are working or temporarily out of work and do not have health insurance; HB 1220 allowing paid leave for hospital workers attending educational courses; HB 1072 allowing asthmatic students to self-administer medication while at school; and HB 514 to say that a criminal conviction is not required for persons to be included on an abuse/neglect central registry.

In ceremonial duties, the House also honored, through resolutions adopted by the House members, several individuals and groups during the week. One special guest in the House chamber this week was Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of martyred civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Another impressive ceremony honored Dr. Wallace Conerly, the retiring head of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Conerly, who assumed the role in August 1994, has led UMC to unprecedented growth and success. The House also honored a group of community college students across the state who have been selected to the Phi Theta Kappa "All-Mississippi Academic Team." Other resolutions passed this week by the House included a tribute to a group of retiring officials, including House Speaker Tim Ford, State Treasurer Marshall Bennett, and Attorney General Mike Moore. Numerous other outstanding Mississippi individuals and groups were also honored with resolutions.

–HB 1033, the unprecedented appropriation bill for K-12, community college, university and other public education activities. The massive appropriation for educational activities represents a full 62 percent of the entire FY 2004 General Fund budget, making education unquestionably the number one funding priority of the Mississippi Legislature.

--HB 46, waiving out-of-state college tuition for non-resident military veterans born in Mississippi.

--HB 637 to include chemical, biological and other weapons of mass destruction in our laws governing bomb threats, weapons and explosives.

--HB 651, updating the state's Administrative Procedures Act to allow the public easier access to rule-making and decisions by all state agencies.

--SB 2001, amends state law to remove the environmental self-audit privilege in criminal cases against alleged polluters, but preserves the privilege for most civil actions and administrative proceedings. This bill, which represents a notable compromise between business and industry groups, on the one hand, and consumer advocates and trial lawyers, on the other, should return Mississippi to good standing with the Federal EPA over the state's "lead paint program," and hopefully also will maintain intact the state's other delegated regulatory authorities in the environmental protection area.

--SB 2327, appropriation to Department of Human Services to hire more social workers in counties that have extremely high caseloads per worker, generally in the Gulf Coast counties.

--SB 2592, allowing the City of Oxford to assume ownership and operating rights over several rural water and sewer associations that fell into receivership.

--HB 849, allowing the Mississippi Development Authority to make available to the Department of Agriculture and Commerce up to $150,000 for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the Mississippi Farmers Central Market in Jackson. The bill includes up to $25,000 for advertising purposes related to the Farmers Market.

--HB 1304, providing that title to real property acquired in the name of a trust shall be deemed vested in the trustee.

--HB 1415, authorizing Leflore County to use a wing of the state prison at Greenwood for incarceration of county prisoners.

--SB 2236, creating a program to train state employees for management positions. This comes as a large percentage of state government managers near retirement age.

--SB 2385, authorizing constables to serve process issued by county, circuit and chancery courts.

--SB 2394, requiring 5-year-olds enrolled in kindergarten to actually attend classes and be subject to attendance laws. This is NOT a mandatory kindergarten bill, but says that if you register, you must attend thereafter.

--SB 2004, authorizing payment for graduate school courses under the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program (MPACT).

--SB 2570, allowing airports to borrow up to $10 million on short-term basis to meet security mandates.

--SB 2482, limiting the Critical Needs Teacher Scholarship Incentive Program to junior and senior level university students.

--SB 2492, designating portions of the Chunky River in Newton, Lauderdale, and Clarke counties as a state scenic stream.

--HB 643, allow taking of antlered deer with less than 4 points if necessary for deer management of DMAP lands.

--Bills to fund the 5th round of the Rural Fire Truck Program through the State Department of Insurance. This program has allowed dozens of rural fire departments to purchase badly needed firefighting equipment.

--State agency appropriation bills that include language stating that state employees' health insurance premiums will remain the same for at least another year, that the deductible will not increase and that services will not be reduced.  This is a stop-gap measure which, unfortunately, will not materially affect the long-term cost of insurance or impact the likely need either to raise premiums or adjust benefits in future years unless new state funding is forthcoming.

--Bill to protect Foster Lake in Wilkinson County as a public waterway rather than a "private hide-a-way" for some.  Foster Lake for years was a public, navigable waterway until the course of the river shifted, leaving the lake no longer river-fed and river-drained, and thereby arguably creating a private waterbody in accordance with traditional precedents in real estate law.

--HB 1603 to provide state funding through a bond issue to upgrade facilities at the state-owned Ingalls Shipbuilding sites on the Gulf Coast -- which provides thousands of jobs for South Mississippi.

--Proposal to establish a medical malpractice insurance risk pool in an effort to provide greater availability of malpractice insurance to Mississippi physicians. This bill is presently in conference and its fate probably won't be decided until the session's last few days.  The Senate conferees and their House counterparts reportedly are widely divided in their respective views of how to craft a potential compromise.

--SB 2445 to prohibit telephone solicitations to any consumer in this state unless the telephone solicitor has purchased the "no-calls" database from the Public Service Commission. Both the House version and the Senate version of the bill contain numerous exceptions and exemptions, and neither perhaps is as stringent as many members of the public apparently expect.

--Bond bills to help improve facilities at numerous state-owned facilities and buildings, including those located on university and community college campuses.

--Drug courts, which have been highly successful in Pike County, are being proposed for all county, circuit and chancery court districts. Unfortunately, there is not enough state money available to fund a statewide system of drug courts at the present time.

--SB 2821 to qualify the state for up to $34 million in Federal funds to upgrade voting machinery and procedures across the state, pursuant to the "Help America Vote Act" passed by Congress. This bill will likely die in conference unless the House conferees agree to include reasonable Voter I.D. provisions for all voters in all elections similar to those included in the Senate version of the bill.

--Increased salaries for a host of officials, from governor to constable to assistant district attorney, will likely be decided in the session's last few days.

Representative Greg Snowden (R-Meridian) maintains a legislative web site to aid constituents and other interested persons in obtaining information about state government. The web site address is  www.gregsnowden.com.  Rep. Snowden may be reached by e-mail at any time greg@gregsnowden.com, or by telephone at 601-693-5700 (Meridian office) or 601-527-5350 (cell phone - a local call from anywhere within Mississippi).

EDITORIAL NOTE: Most of the facts and much of the organization of the above summary is due to the fine work of Mac Gordon, of the House Information Office. However, although Mr. Gordon provides this information weekly to all House members, each member has the privilege of using it however he or she sees fit. Rep. Snowden has taken the liberty to re-write much of the standard summary, and to include his own comments and expressions of opinion. Accordingly, while Rep. Snowden gratefully acknowledges the work of the House Information Office in organizing and supplying reliable and timely information as to the workings of the House, all comment and all opinion contained in this summary is that of Rep. Snowden alone, and not that of Mr. Gordon or any other staff employee of the House of Representatives.