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Rep. Noah Sanford
Tuesday, March 5, was the deadline for general bills to be voted out of committee. The House then brought dozens of these bills up for consideration the remainder of the week, where most all passed.
House Bill 1196, known as “Walker’s Law,” would criminalize “sextortion,” or threatening to disseminate explicit images of a person, usually in an attempt to extort money or favors from the victim. An adult convicted of the crime could be sentenced with up to five years in prison for the first offense, ten years for the second offense, or twenty years for the third offense. The bill passed 116-0.
By a vote of 95-13, the INSPIRE Act passed the House. This bill would rewrite the funding formula for K-12 education. The bill would replaced the MAEP funding formula, which was passed in 1996 and has not been substantially modified since. The INSPIRE Act would provide a base amount of $6,650 sent to each school district for each child enrolled. Then, school districts would receive additional funding for its students with disabilities, who live in poverty, as well as other conditions that may cause a need for additional resources. The purpose of the plan is to provide an easier-to-understand formula that better allocates resources based on the individual needs of students. The plan would invest an additional $241 million in education over last year’s budget.
House Bill 1013, passed 118-0, would create a recruitment and retention program for paramedics, which are among the professions with the worst shortage.
House Bill 1404 would cause runoff elections to be held four weeks after the first election, rather than the current law of three weeks. This came at the request of the circuit clerks and election commissioners, as the timeframe for certifying the election, then printing ballots and distributing them for absentee voting leaves very little turnaround time.
The House will have a few weeks to finish voting on all remaining House bills that survived the committee process. As they are voted out, they will head to the Senate, where they’ll go through the same process there.
I appreciate the opportunity to serve. Please contact me if I may be of assistance or if you have questions or concerns.
Noah Sanford represents parts of Covington, Simpson, Jefferson Davis, Forrest, and Jones Counties in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He can be reached at NSanford@house.ms.gov.
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