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Rep. Noah Sanford
The House of Representatives has been busy the last two weeks debating on the floor of the House bills which earlier passed through the committee process.
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House Bill 755 would allow community colleges, in their discretion, to waive out-of-state tuition for a certain number of nonresident students. This was requested by certain community colleges, like Copiah-Lincoln, which has a campus in Natchez, right across the state line from Louisiana. Co-Lin would like to recruit students who live just miles from that campus, but are Louisiana residents. Community colleges have many classes that are only partially full; recruiting nonresident students would help fill these seats and save resident students money. Mississippi universities presently have this authority.
House Bill 1091, dubbed “The Mississippi Educational Talent Recruitment Act,” passed by a vote of 111-8. The result of a conference last fall to discuss actions to stem the “brain drain,” the bill would incentivize young people to stay in the state by allowing them to keep a certain portion of their state income tax payments.
House Bill 870 concerns the appointment power to the state IHL (Institutions of Higher Learning) board, which oversees all of the state’s public universities, including in hiring their presidents. Since the 1990s, the Governor has had the authority to make all appointments to the twelve-member board. HB 870 would restore the appointment-making power to the way it was prior to the 1990s, when the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House each had four appointments. Many Mississippians, especially alumni of Ole Miss and Jackson State, have been disappointed in how their most recent presidents were chosen by IHL.
We will now begin taking up Senate bills for consideration in House committees. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to serve. Please contact me if I can be of assistance.
Rep. Noah Sanford represents parts of Covington, Simpson, and Jefferson Davis Counties in the Mississippi House of Representatives. He can be reached at 601-765-4122 or NSanford@house.ms.gov.
