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With bipartisan majority, House passes bill to restore voting rights to people convicted of nonviolent crimes

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A large majority of House members voted on Thursday to approve a plan that creates a process for people previously convicted of some nonviolent felony offenses to have their voting rights restored — the first of such a vote in Mississippi in more than a decade. 

The House voted 96-11 to pass House Bill 1609, a bipartisan proposal to automatically restore suffrage to people convicted of nonviolent disenfranchising felonies after they’ve completed the terms of their sentence.

“It lets folks, five years after they’ve finished their sentence and satisfied all conditions, restore their rights … for folks that have cleaned their life up and gone straight,” House Speaker Jason White, R-West, told Mississippi Today. “It’s not about rewarding that, but it’s about recognizing it and placing them on that better path.”

Under the Mississippi Constitution, people convicted of any of 10 types of felonies lose their voting rights for life. Various opinions from the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office expanded the list of disenfranchising felonies to 23.

White, the first-term speaker, tasked House Constitution Committee Chairman Price Wallace, R-Mendenhall, and House Judiciary B Chairman Kevin Horan, R-Grenada, with coming up with a feasible plan to restore suffrage to some people convicted of nonviolent felons.

READ MORE: Speaker White asks GOP leaders to explore restoration of voting rights to some people convicted of felonies

The House measure would allow people convicted of nonviolent offenses such as bad check writing, perjury and theft to regain their suffrage if they have not been convicted of another felony for five years after completing their sentence and paying any outstanding fines.

But people convicted of murder, arson, armed robbery, carjacking, embezzling more than $5,000, rape, statutory rape, bribery, perjury, human trafficking and voter fraud would still lose their voting rights for life.

Rep. Kabir Karriem, D-Columbus, has filed legislation for years to restore voting rights to people convicted of felony offenses, but it never gained major traction at the Capitol. Karriem called the bill’s passage a “historic moment” and thanked Republican leaders for working with him on the proposal.

“I think this bill restores hope as it makes its way through the process,” Karriem said. “It gives folks who have walked around with a scarlet letter on their chest for so long who have paid their debt to society a sense of hope.”

About 37,900 names are on the Secretary of State’s voter disenfranchisement list as of Jan. 29. The list, provided to Mississippi Today through a public records request, goes back to 1992 for felony convictions in state court.

That number, however, may not be fully accurate because no state agency tracks people once they are struck for the voter rolls. Studies commissioned by civil rights organizations in 2018 estimated between 44,000 and 50,000 Mississippians were disenfranchised.

The practice of stripping voting rights away for life from people originated in the 1890 Constitution, when white supremacist leaders intentionally tried to disenfranchise Black Mississippians or keep them out of elected office. With a justice system fully on their side, the white leaders at the time chose to include crimes they believed Black people were more likely to commit.

Rep. Cheikh Taylor, D-Starkville, who is also the current chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said that while the practice has racist roots, he believes the bill’s passage debunks the notion that only Democrats and people of color are convicted felons.

“People suffer from these conditions in every village and hamlet in the state of Mississippi in all of our districts — and not just minority districts,” Taylor said.  

The current process to have someone’s suffrage restored is burdensome. It requires a lawmaker to introduce a bill on an individual’s behalf, and two-thirds of lawmakers in both legislative chambers must agree. A person can also seek a gubernatorial pardon, though no executive pardon has been handed down since Gov. Haley Barbour’s final days in office in 2011.

The bill now heads to the Republican-majority Senate, where it may receive a frosty reception. The 52-member Senate on Wednesday voted 29-23 to reject a separate bill that would restore Second Amendment rights to people previously convicted of nonviolent felony offenses.

Senate Bill 2626 did not address voting rights, but it could serve as a barometer for how the Capitol’s upper chamber will address the House’s suffrage restoration proposal.

Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, said he voted against the proposal because he didn’t know enough information about the legislation, but he was open to reconsidering his vote.

“I’m sure even I have constituents who served their time … and would like to have this right restored,” England said.

Senators held the bill on a procedural motion, meaning they could debate the issue again at a later time and change their minds.

Senate Judiciary B Chairman Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, and Sen. Rod Hickman, D-Macon, told Mississippi Today that they plan on working with their colleagues to address their concerns and reiterate what the legislation aims to accomplish.

“I think some people just didn’t understand what the bill was trying to actually do,” Fillingane said. “If you’ve completed the terms of your sentence, it was nonviolent, you haven’t committed another crime for five years, then what’s the problem?” 

READ MORE: Lawmakers consider restoring suffrage, gun rights to those convicted of some nonviolent crimes

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

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1865

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-12 07:00:00

Jan. 12, 1865 

Credit: Zinn Education Project

As the Civil War neared an end, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton met with local Black leaders in Savannah, Georgia. 

The Rev. Garrison Frazier, a 67-year-old imposing man, spoke for the group. Asked what slavery meant, he replied, “Slavery is, receiving by irresistible power the work of another man, and not by his consent.” 

He told the Army leaders that they wanted to be free from the dominion of white men, wanted to be educated and wanted to own land they could work and earn a living. 

Asked if they would rather live scattered among the whites or in colonies by yourselves, Frazier replied, “I would prefer to live by ourselves, for there is a prejudice against us in the South that will take years to get over.” 

In response, Sherman issued Special Field Order 15, giving each freed family 40 acres of land along the Atlantic Coast. “The effect throughout the South was electric,” wrote historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., with freedmen settling on 400,000 acres of “Sherman Land.” 

Some also received mules left over from the battles, leading to the phrase “40 acres and a mule.” 

After President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, President Andrew Johnson took over, reversing Field Order 15 and smashing the dreams of Black Americans who had finally been freed.

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

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Mississippi Today

Gov. Tate Reeves zones in again on taxes but remains silent on critical retirement system problems

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2025-01-12 06:00:00

Hours before the 2025 session of the Mississippi Legislature kicked off last week, Gov. Tate Reeves went to social media to proclaim the No. 1 goal “for this Republican” is to eliminate the state income tax.

The governor does not have a vote in the Legislature and cannot even introduce legislation. He must seek out a legislative ally to file bills he supports.

But the governor has perhaps the biggest political bully pulpit in the state, giving an effective governor the immense opportunity to sway public opinion. And the governor has the power of the veto, which it takes an imposing two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers to override.

Obviously, one of the governor’s most important duties is working with the Legislature to develop policies for the betterment of the state.

In the opinion of Jonathan Tate Reeves, now in his 21st year as a statewide elected official and in his fifth year as governor, the most important issue facing 3 million Mississippians is eliminating the income tax.

Reeves has proposed phasing out the income tax every year he has been governor. His latest proposal is to phase out the tax, which accounts for about 30% of the state general fund, by 2029.

Other Republicans in the state, including House Speaker Jason White, also say the elimination of the income tax is their top priority or near the top of their “to do list.” But White speaks of eliminating the tax in eight to 10 years. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wants to cut the tax, but says if legislation is enacted to fully eliminate the tax, it will be after his tenure as lieutenant governor ends in January 2028.

Many politicians cite other pressing needs facing the state, not the least of which is ensuring the long-term viability of the state’s massive retirement program for public employees. Some say if the Public Employees Retirement System is not fiscally sound in the long term, the financial impact on the state could be devastating.

Yet the governor has rarely commented about the issues facing PERS, which provides or will provide retirement benefits for more than 350,000 people who worked or have worked in the public sector — including for state agencies, local governmental entities and public schools, kindergarten through the university level. In other words, more than 10% of the state’s population is in the PERS system.

Experts say the system has a deficit of $25 billion. It should be stressed that the deficit could be considered a bit misleading because PERS has assets to meet its obligations for years — for long after Reeves leaves office.

But many believe that if steps are not taken now to shore up the system, the state will eventually face financial obligations like it has never experienced. It is very unlikely Reeves will have to deal with that likelihood since he will long be gone from state government service.

The PERS governing board and legislators began work to shore up the system before the 2024 session began. That work is continuing this year. While Reeves talks about eliminating the income tax all the time, he seldom if ever weighs in on what he believes should be done to deal with PERS.

After the 2024 session, Reeves allowed a bill that made significant changes to PERS to become law without his signature. It was not clear whether he supported or opposed the legislation that was viewed by many as an opening salvo in dealing with issues surrounding PERS.

The governor’s silence is particularly interesting considering he was a member of the governing board of PERS when he served as state treasurer. Reeves’ experience as treasure and his short career in the private sector in finance should give him a unique perspective on the financial issues the retirement system faces.

Every politician has different priorities. Reeves has not been shy about letting Mississippians know his top priority. It is easy to find his thoughts on the income tax in his social media posts.

But on PERS, it is crickets when it comes to what the governor thinks.

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

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1870

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-11 07:00:00

Jan. 11, 1870 

The Black lawmakers from Reconstruction days are featured in an online exhibit by Mississippi State University titled, “Against All Odds: The First Black Legislators in Mississippi.” Credit: Courtesy of Mississippi State University Libraries

The first legislature in Radical Reconstruction met in Mississippi. During this time, at least 226 Black Mississippians held public office. Lawmakers adopted a new state constitution that ushered in free public schools and had no property requirements to vote. 

These acts infuriated the Southerners who embraced white supremacy, and they responded violently. They assassinated many of those who worked on the constitution. 

In Monroe County, Klansmen killed Jack Dupree, a Black Mississippian who led a Republican Party group. In Vicksburg, white supremacists formed the White Man’s party, patrolled the streets with guns, and told Black voters to stay home on election day. 

White supremacists continued to use violence and voter fraud to win. When the federal government refused to step in, 

Congressman John R. Lynch warned, “The war was fought in vain.” 

It would take almost a century for Black Mississippians to begin to regain the rights they had lost. 

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

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