House committee advances several bills, including tax-credit extension and sidewalk funding
Loading...
Summary
A House committee adopted amendments and reported out seven bills by voice vote, including a railroad reconstruction tax-credit extension to 2029, date adjustments to a healthcare-zone act, motor-vehicle tag provisions, resort-status language, updated cigarette language explained by Senator Johnson, and an expansion allowing sidewalks as an eligible municipal use of use-tax funds.
A House committee met and by voice votes adopted amendments and reported out seven bills on its agenda, including measures to extend a railroad tax credit, align healthcare-zone expiration dates, add a reverse repealer for motor-vehicle tags and resort-status requests, and permit municipalities to use local use-tax money for sidewalks.
The chair opened the meeting and introduced House Bill 7 17, described as the “qualified railroad reconstruction tax credit,” and proposed an amendment to add a two-year repealer that would move the bill’s expiration to 2029 to match language previously passed in the Senate. The committee adopted the amendment and then voted to report the bill out as amended.
The committee next took up House Bill 9 41, the Mississippi Healthcare Industry Zone Act. The chair said the bill mirrors Senate language except for expiration dates and proposed amending the bill’s dates to 2028 so they match another bill the committee had passed earlier. Members approved the date-consistency amendment and passed the bill as amended.
On House Bill 12 30, a motor-vehicle tag bill, the chair said the committee would add a reverse repealer to keep certain tag requests alive and asked members to submit tag requests to staff (Ian) for inclusion in the conference report. The amendment was adopted and the bill passed as amended.
House Bill 13 30, described by the chair as relating to resort-status classification, also received a reverse repealer amendment intended to preserve members’ requests; the committee adopted the amendment and passed the bill as amended.
The chair then recognized Senator Johnson, who explained that House Bill 13 45 would incorporate language the Senate previously passed on cigarette provisions via a strike-and-insert and would be made effective on passage. The committee approved the change and passed the bill as amended.
Finally, the committee considered House Bill 13 86, which clarifies acceptable municipal uses of local use-tax revenue. The chair said the bill adds sidewalks to the list of eligible expenditures for municipalities — alongside repair, maintenance and reconstruction of roads and streets — and the committee passed the measure.
All recorded decisions were taken by voice vote; for each item the transcript records the chair calling for “ayes” and then saying “the ayes have it.” The chair announced another meeting for Tuesday to consider the remaining House general bills and urged members with bills to meet with staff before Monday.
Votes at a glance: All bills on the agenda were passed as amended or reported out by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not specified in the transcript.
