Mississippi House approves multiple bills; key measures on property, health and internet liability advance

The Mississippi House of Representatives moved, voted on, or referred several bills during its floor session, approving measures on property rights, health-care facility regulation and civil damages while sending others to conference for further negotiation.

House members gave final approval to the so-called "squatter" bill (House Bill 1200) after the House version deleted about five lines of text that lawmakers said blurred the distinction between trespassers and people claiming adverse possession; the bill passed final passage by a recorded vote of 98 yeas and 14 nays. The House also passed House Bill 569, a consolidated Certificate of Need (CON) measure that combines earlier provisions and adds new reporting requirements, by a recorded vote of 113 yeas and 3 nays. Lawmakers approved House Bill 599 — a measure addressing online publication of obscene material involving children that the Senate amended to cap non-economic damages at $500,000 — by a recorded vote of 120 yeas and 0 nays.

Several other items were handled by procedural motions. The House moved to invite conference on two bills (House Bill 1123 and House Bill 856) to allow additional negotiation between chambers; those motions were agreed to by voice vote. Lawmakers also moved to concur with Senate changes to House Bill 246, which the House described as allowing the sale of certain sixteenth-section mineral interests; the chamber recorded…