Dozens of new laws take effect Friday in Mississippi, covering a wide range of issues. One allows students who live in C, D or F-rated districts to attend charter schools in another district. Another bans Medicaid from spending money with any health care provider that offers abortions. Another could lead to an increase in fees for hunting and fishing licenses.
Mississippi begins a new budget year Friday with a tight $6.4 billion spending plan that cuts money for many state services, including mental health.
Dozens of new laws take effect Friday in Mississippi, covering a wide range of issues.
One allows students who live in C, D or F-rated districts to attend charter schools in another district. Another bans Medicaid from spending money with any health care provider that offers abortions.
Another could lead to an increase in fees for hunting and fishing licenses.
New Mississippi law going into effect Friday include:
- APPOINTED SUPERINTENDENTS — SB 2438 (http://bit.ly/1RpuTs3 ) requires all school superintendents to be appointed, beginning in 2019. Those elected in 2015 will serve their current four-year terms.
- ACHIEVEMENT SCHOOL DISTRICT — HB 989 (http://bit.ly/1p25v2d ) creates a statewide school district that would take control of poorly performing school districts or individual schools. The first schools could be taken over in 2017.
- CHARTER SCHOOLS — SB 2161 (http://bit.ly/1RxqDdc ) allows some students to attend charter schools outside their home districts.
- JACKSON AIRPORT — SB 2162 (http://bit.ly/1RnU1x1 ) replaces the current five-member board appointed by Mayor Tony Yarber with a nine-member Jackson Metropolitan Airport Authority. State officials and two suburban counties would appoint a majority, but five of nine members would have to live in Jackson. City officials are backing a lawsuit that seeks to block the changes.
- ABORTION — HB 519 (http://bit.ly/1PpUWLo ) outlaws a procedure called dilation and evacuation unless an abortion is required to prevent irreversible physical impairment to the pregnant woman. It prohibits abortions extracting a live fetus in pieces using instruments such as clamps and forceps.
- PLANNED PARENTHOOD —SB 2238 (http://bit.ly/1o4A5XO ) blocks Medicaid from spending money with any health care provider that offers abortion. Records show that from July 2013 to August 2015, Mississippi Medicaid spent $439 with Planned Parenthood at a Hattiesburg clinic that offers birth control and cancer screenings but doesn’t do abortions. Planned Parenthood is suing the state to try to block the law.
- HUNTING AND FISHING LICENSES — HB 1151 (http://bit.ly/1UDy1UJ ) allows the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to raise the price of hunting and fishing licenses, requiring the money be used to hire and equip game wardens.
- RIDE HAILING SERVICES — HB 1381 (http://bit.ly/29dwZNW ) creates statewide regulations to govern Uber, Lyft and other online ride-hailing services, overriding the ability of cities to regulate them.
- CELL PHONE NO-CALL LIST — SB 2366 (http://bit.ly/29dxpUK ) adds cellphones to the state’s no-call list for telemarketing.
- BAIL AGENTS — SB 2664 (http://bit.ly/1WXfOPM ) puts additional regulations on bail bond companies.
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