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Senate floor: quick roundup of bills passed by morning roll call
Summary
The Senate used the morning roll call to pass several bills with limited floor debate, including measures increasing tourism rebate thresholds, expanding the capital improvements revolving loan program, and raising the cap on small-municipality grants.
The Mississippi Senate advanced several bills by use of the morning roll call during the February floor session. The items listed below were taken up with committee explanations and were ultimately passed.
SB2854 (tourism rebate for hotels and resorts): Senator Johnson explained a committee substitute that raises the private investment thresholds and changes the percentage of private investment that may be spent on retail from 40% to 30% for certain resort definitions. The committee substitute was adopted and the bill passed by morning roll call.
SB2856 (capital improvements revolving loan program, MDA): Senator Johnson said the bill expands the Mississippi Development Authority's discretion to determine what qualifies as a "capital improvement" under the local revolving loan program so that the authority does not have to return repeatedly to the Legislature to add new capital improvements. The bill passed by morning roll call; the transcript records several senators voting no during the roll call (for example, Senator Blackmun voting no).
SB2857 (small municipality and limited-population county grant program): Senator Johnson explained that the bill raises the per-grant cap from $250,000 to $1,000,000 (subject to appropriation) for the MDA program serving local governments and small counties (small counties defined in the bill as under 30,000 population; small municipalities under 10,000). Senator McMahon urged substantial funding during floor remarks. Senators adopted the measure and it passed via the morning roll call; the sponsor said the program had not been funded in the prior budget year.
SB2413 (Strengthened Mississippi Homes mitigation program): The committee substitute rebrands and expands mitigation funding for wind- and tornado-related home hardening and retrofit grants; the bill authorizes raising an existing insurer fee from $25 to $50 with $25 of the increase dedicated to a mitigation fund estimated to create approximately $18 million annually for retrofits and a minimum of 1,000 homes per year. The committee substitute was adopted and the bill passed on final passage by morning roll call.
Several other bills on the calendar were also passed or retained for later consideration; the transcript shows the Senate used the morning roll call procedure repeatedly during the session to finalize measures with committee substitutes or floor amendments.
