As the Mississippi Legislature adjourned its 2024 regular session on Saturday, only a fraction of the thousands of bills introduced by legislators survived to become law. 

The most notable item that died during the session was Medicaid expansion, a policy that would have allowed thousands of Mississippians to receive health coverage and potentially give struggling hospitals a needed financial boost. 

But several other pieces of legislation such as early voting and overhauling the way the state restores voting rights to people convicted of certain felony offenses also died during the session. 

Unless Republican Gov. Tate Reeves calls legislators into a special legislative session, lawmakers will now have to wait until their 2025 session next year to introduce any more legislation this year. 

Here are some other bills that died after the 2024 legislative session adjourned on Saturday:

Judicial redistricting 

House Bill 722 and Senate Bill 2771 would have redrawn the state's circuit and chancery court districts, but negotiations stalled between the House and the Senate on adopting a final map.  

The current court districts have largely remained unchanged for 30 years. Senate Judiciary A Committee Chairman Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula who was the Senate's lead negotiator, believed the Legislature should use population data and the number of active court cases in each district to substantively redraw them. 

Wiggins sent the House a plan that passed the Senate 32-13. But the House didn't agree to the Senate plan, and it did not reveal its own redistricting proposal. 

House Judiciary B Chairman Kevin Horan, a Republican from Grenada and the main House negotiator, said he wanted to agree on a plan this year, but he thought there were too many stakeholders, such as judges, whom he believed did not have their opinions considered in how the new districts should look. 

“This issue is too important for them to not have their voices heard,” Horan said. 

Both committee leaders told Mississippi Today they intend to conduct hearings in the summer or the fall to hear from judges, district attorneys and officials from the Administrative Office of Courts on what metrics should be considered for new districts. 

Lawmakers have until 2025 to agree on a set of new maps. If the two chambers cannot reach a compromise by early next year, Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph will be tasked with redrawing the new chancery and circuit court districts. 

Mobile sports betting 

House Bill 774, the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, would have legalized mobile sports betting and allowed Mississippi to join more than two dozen other states where the practice is legal. 

Sports wagering has been legal in Mississippi for years, but online betting has remained illegal in part from fears the move could erode profits of the state's brick and mortar casinos located along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast.

The initial proposal would have required betting companies to contract with casinos, but some lawmakers raised concerns that the legislation did not offer any incentives for major betting companies to partner with smaller casinos. 

The two chambers passed different versions of the same bill, and they couldn't reach an accord during the conference committee process. 

Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount, a Democrat from Jackson, told Mississippi Today that there was division among casino owners on how the legislation would impact physical casinos and their employees and offered little protection for people who struggle with gambling addiction. 

Blount said he hopes casino owners and lawmakers will continue to discuss the issue during the off season and debate the issue more next year.  

Replacing Mississippi's white supremacist statues in Washington

Senate Bill 2231 and House Concurrent Resolution 12 would have replaced Mississippi's statutes of J.Z. George and Jefferson Davis, two white supremacists, in the U.S. Capitol in Washington. 

Other Southern states such as Alabama, Florida and Arkansas, have replaced their statues of white supremacists, but Mississippi remains the only state in the nation with two Confederate leaders in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington. 

Federal law allows for states to replace their statues, but a majority of lawmakers in both legislative chambers must vote to approve the replacement, and the state is required to pay for the costs of replacing the statues.

House Rules Chairman Fred Shanks, a Republican from Brandon, previously said he did not know much about the National Statuary Hall Collection, but that he would study the issue. 

Early voting 

Senate Bill 2580 would have established in-person early voting and let Mississippi join 47 other states that authorize the practice in some form.

The bill would have allowed 15 days of no-excuse early voting before election day and required voters to submit a valid photo ID to cast a ballot. It would have replaced in-person absentee voting. 

The bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly, but House Elections Chairman Noah Sanford, a Republican from Collins, said he received concerns about the proposal from some county circuit clerks, the local officials who administer elections. 

Instead, Sanford said he would like to conduct some hearings in the summer or fall to examine the issue further and allow circuit clerks and others to present information. He said that after the hearings he would be more open to passing early voting legislation. 

Restoring a ballot initiative 

For the third straight year, lawmakers could not agree on a way to restore Mississippi's ballot initiative process. 

House Concurrent Resolution 11 and Senate Bill 2770 would have created a process for voters to bypass lawmakers and place issues directly on a statewide ballot for consideration. The process would only allow voters to amend laws and not the constitution. 

The House passed a proposal that would have created an initiative process that  organizers to gather signatures from 8% of the number of registered voters during the last governor's race, which the Secretary of State's office estimated to be around 166,000.

Senate leaders proposed a plan that would have required petitions to gather signatures from  10% of the registered voters from the last presidential election – more than 200,000 signatures of registered voters – to place an issue on the ballot. The Senate chamber rejected that proposal. 

Both the House and Senate plans would have restricted voters from considering any initiative related to abortion. 

Mississippians have not had an initiative process since 2021, when the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled it invalid because of a technicality over the state's congressional districts. 

Felony suffrage overhaul 

House Bill 1609 would have automatically restored voting rights to people convicted of nonviolent felony offenses, as long as they had not committed another felony within five years of completing the terms of their sentence. 

The legislation passed the House by a bipartisan majority, but Senate Constitution Chairwoman Angela Hill killed the measure by not bringing it up for a vote. 

Under the Mississippi Constitution, people convicted of any of 10 felonies — including perjury, arson and bigamy — lose their voting rights for life. A 2009 opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General's Office expanded the list of disenfranchising felonies to 22.

The constitutional provision stems from Jim Crow-era policy where the framers of the 1890 constitution chose disenfranchising crimes thought to be more likely committed by Black people.  

Mississippi is one of only a handful of states that does not automatically restore voting rights to people who complete their sentences. Instead, two-thirds of lawmakers in both chambers must agree to restore the suffrage to individuals in a piecemeal fashion.  

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today's “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times' Local Investigations Fellowship revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them.

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The seven-part 2023 series, which has continued into 2024, included new details about the Rankin County “Goon Squad.”

Click the links below to read the Pulitzer Prize-recognized series.

Sex Abuse, Beatings and an Untouchable Mississippi Sheriff

Where the Sheriff is King, These Women Say He Coerced Them Into Sex

New Evidence Raises Questions in Controversial Mississippi Law Enforcement Killing

The Sheriff, His Girlfriend and His Illegal Subpoenas

How a ‘Goon Squad' of Deputies Got Away With Years of Brutality

Days After Rankin's ‘Goon Squad' Tortured Two Men, Supervisors Gave the Sheriff a Pay Boost

Who Investigates the Sheriff? In Mississippi, Often No One.

READ MORE: The complete “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” series

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today's “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them.

The series included new details about the Rankin County “Goon Squad.”

“I feel so blessed to see our work investigating sheriffs in Mississippi recognized by the Pulitzer Prize Board,” investigative reporter Jerry Mitchell said. “This honor doesn't belong to us. It belongs to the people who dared to stand up and share their stories — victims of violence, sexual assault and many other abuses.”

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This is Mississippi Today's second consecutive honor from the Pulitzer Prizes. The newsroom won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for its “The Backchannel” investigation into key players in the welfare scandal, making it the seventh Mississippi news outlet to win in the history of the prizes.

“This series shocked the conscience of Mississippi, and the impact this group of incredible journalists had is enormous,” said Adam Ganucheau, Mississippi Today's editor-in-chief. “Anyone who has read the stories can see how much time and energy they put into serving the state, and they are so deserving of this recognition.”

READ MORE: The complete “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” series

The seven-part “Unfettered Power” series documented in vivid detail the stunning abuse of residents by officers across Mississippi for more than two decades. Officers spied on and tortured suspects and used their power to jail and punish political enemies.

The reporting was based on difficult-to-get interviews and a deep examination of records, including thousands of pages of Taser logs. Using other department records, the reporting team determined which device was assigned to each deputy, allowing reporters to substantiate allegations of torture by victims and witnesses.

“None of this would have happened without the hard work of our three tremendously talented investigative reporters, Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield,” Mitchell said. “They are a model for what dedication, determination and perseverance can accomplish. Because of them, we know that the future of investigative reporting is in great hands.”

The impact of the series was profound. The reporting prompted federal investigations and the drafting of several pieces of Mississippi legislation to limit the power of sheriffs.

“In a short time Mississippi Today has built a prize-winning newsroom that has produced a string of accountability stories,” said Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times' Local Investigations Fellowship. “Our combined coverage of horrific abuses by sheriffs in the state is an example of the power and importance of local investigative reporting. It has yielded results, and the work continues.”

The Pulitzer Prize is the most prominent award earned by Mississippi Today, the state's flagship nonprofit newsroom that was founded in 2016. The newsroom and its journalists have won several national awards in recent years, including: two Goldsmith Prizes for Investigative Reporting; a Sidney Award for thorough coverage of the Jackson water crisis; a Collier Prize for State Government Accountability; and the John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award.

Mississippi Today and its staff have also won dozens of regional and statewide prizes, including dozens of Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Awards; several Mississippi Press Association awards for excellence, including a Bill Minor Prizes for Investigative Reporting; and the 2023 Silver Em Award at University of Mississippi.

“We as Mississippians are so fortunate to have strong investigative journalism in our state,” said Mary Margaret White, Mississippi Today CEO and Executive Director. “This level of reporting takes a great deal of focus, determination and grit. The journalists being honored today are public servants in the truest sense, catalyzing accountability and change and standing up for, and with, those whose voices are otherwise ignored.”

This is Mitchell's second time to be named a Pulitzer finalist. He was previously named a finalist in 2006 for his relentless reporting on the successful conviction of Edgar Ray Killen, who orchestrated the killing of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia in 1964.

The ongoing work on the sheriffs series is far from done, he said.

“We've just begun to shine a light into the darkness in Mississippi, and we can already see the roaches scattering,” Mitchell said.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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