Jackson Water Update
Jackson's ongoing issues with its water system has spent a lot of time in the news over the past few years. If you don't remember, during the ice storms that swept Mississippi and the country in February 2021, Jackson's water system essentially collapsed, leading to the state temporarily taking over the system to provide needed fixes that had been ignored for decades by city leadership. Not long after, the federal government assumed control of the system and provided a significant sum to a third-party administrator to fix the issues over a period of a few years.
Last week, the Senate passed SB 2628, which creates the Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Authority which would be overseen by an appointed board. Under this legislation, the Authority would have the ability to manage Jackson's water and sewer system with leadership from the city of Jackson and the state.
Jackson is Mississippi's capital city, and it's important that we ensure it is safe and that residents and visitors alike have access to reliable, clean water. I look forward to seeing this bill make its way through the legislative process.
Senate work continues
The Senate was hard at work last week, spending the majority of our time on the Senate floor ahead of the Thursday deadline to pass bills out of the chamber. Now that we've finished sending all of our legislation to the House, the committee process will start again, this time looking at legislation originating from the House side.
We passed a lot of great legislation last week. One of the bills that I've talked about several times, SB 2062, passed from the floor. You'll remember that this legislation creates a task force to study the safe and effective implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our schools. I'm excited to see this legislation continue to move through the process and look forward to working with our partners in the House to get it across the finish line.
Other bills I sponsored that passed last week:
SB 2004 would require the Department of Agriculture to create rules and standards for the grading, sampling, and sale of grains in the state.
SB 2130 prohibits home insurers from refusing to issue or renew a policy based solely on the age of a homeowner's roof.
SB 2486 simplifies and streamlines the state's process for issuing and grading requests for proposal (RFPs) and requests for qualifications (RFQs).
As with much of the legislation passed in a given year, the majority of the bills above are very technical in nature. While they may not have a huge impact on your daily lives, they are small, simple ways to make government work better for you and all the people of Mississippi.
The next deadline is March 27, when all appropriation and revenue bills must be passed out of the chamber in which it originated. As Vice Chair of the Senate Finance committee, I'll be heavily involved with the passage of all revenue bills, which relate to taxes and bonds.
I want to hear from you!
Have any questions or thoughts about legislation? Let me know! For general thoughts or questions, you can email my senate email: chjohnson@senate.ms.gov. For anything involving the new Government Structure committee, you can email msgovernmentstructure@gmail.com. I would love to talk with you about issues that directly affect you, and emailing me is the best way I can do that.
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