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Senate approves Calhoun County assessment for courthouse repairs after floor debate
Summary
The Senate approved Senate Bill 3056, allowing Calhoun County to levy a $25 assessment on most convictions and $50 for DUI convictions to fund courthouse repairs. Lawmakers debated whether such assessments disproportionately burden people with the least ability to pay.
The Mississippi Senate approved Senate Bill 3056, authorizing Calhoun County to levy a $25 assessment on justice-court, county-court and circuit-court convictions and a $50 assessment for driving-under-the-influence convictions to fund courthouse repairs and renovations.
Supporters said the assessments provide a local funding source for courthouse maintenance. "This was just the first one of these that came up while I was paying attention," said Senator Bryan, who added he would vote in favor of the measure. "I'm gonna vote yes on this."
Opponents warned the assessments place an outsized burden on people with limited means and could create perverse incentives. "What we're doing in this legislature ... is loading up the burden of government on the hardworking people who can least afford to pay," Senator Bryan said in floor remarks explaining his concerns even as he supported the bill procedurally. Senator Sparks said he had voted no in committee and planned to vote no on final passage: "I voted no in committee, and I'll vote no today."
Senator Wiggins questioned committee deliberations and whether the measures had been fully vetted. He asked whether tying assessments to courthouse funding could create an incentive to pursue convictions for revenue; "there's an inherent conflict," he said. Senators and other members exchanged questions about where assessment dollars would go relative to existing state assessments and how payment priorities would be applied in collection processes.
Senate leadership moved the bill by the use of the morning roll call; the bill passed and will be reflected in the Senate journal. The transcript does not record a complete numerical roll-call tally in the floor discussion excerpt.
The measure applies only to Calhoun County as written in the bill text read on the floor and authorizes local officials to levy the assessments if the county approves them as provided. The bill's proponents characterized the assessments as a targeted revenue source for repair and renovation projects at the county courthouse and related facilities.
The Senate recorded objections and several members who said they would vote no, but the motion for final passage was adopted by roll call and the bill passed.
Votes recorded on the floor transcript include recorded statements of intent: Senator Bryan (yes) and Senator Sparks (no). The official tally is recorded in the Senate's journal and roll-call record.
