What does the Mississippi Supreme Court's ruling on House Bill 1020 mean?

Table Of Content

• What does the Mississippi Supreme Court’s ruling on House Bill 1020 mean?
• Mississippi House passes controversial House Bill 1020, sends to Gov. as session nears end
• First hearing held on court challenge to controversial House Bill 1020, set to become law
• Mississippi Sessions
• Active Mississippi Bills (Introduced, Engrossed, Enrolled, Passed)

Hinds County Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten, who served in the House before being elected judge and would be one of the existing judges to lose jurisdiction under this House proposal, also watched the debate. Blackmon and Rep. Robert Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, both said on the floor they were making a record during their remarks for the lawsuit that is likely to be filed because of the legislation. The basis of the lawsuit, they said, is that the proposal takes the right to vote away from the African American population of the city.

What does the Mississippi Supreme Court’s ruling on House Bill 1020 mean?

Temporary judges could be appointed under House Bill 1020 by end of week following ruling - WLBT

Temporary judges could be appointed under House Bill 1020 by end of week following ruling.

Posted: Wed, 13 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Lamar also said the legislature has invested in Jackson, countering criticism that they have not done so, and that the city cannot be trusted to improve its crime issues on its own. Rep. Edward Blackmon said even the new CCID boundaries would be far whiter than the city as a whole, and like many speaking against the bill he looked to future court challenges. Johnson said that whether someone ends up in prison for a minor offense could be decided by racial biases within the judicial system, particularly since the judge hearing the case would not be elected. Randolph was previously a defendant in the state lawsuit, but on Thursday Thomas dismissed him and Hinds County Circuit Clerk Zack Wallace. Gov. Tate Reeves signed HB 1020 on April 21, and within days the NAACP’s lawsuit and another lawsuit brought by the Mississippi Center for Justice, the ACLU of Mississippi, the McArthur Justice Center and the Legal Defense Educational Fund were filed. A federal judge temporarily blocked the controversial House Bill 1020 from becoming law Friday.

Mississippi House passes controversial House Bill 1020, sends to Gov. as session nears end

The judge shall possess all qualificationsrequired by law for municipal court judges. Such judge shall be a qualifiedelector of this state, and shall have such other qualifications as provided bylaw for municipal judges. Instead of giving the city's majority-Black residents an opportunity to vote for judges and prosecutors in the court, the Republican-backed bill would require government officials to choose who fills those positions. The Mississippi House passed a controversial bill that would form a court system of unelected judges and prosecutors to preside over part of the majority-Black city of Jackson.

First hearing held on court challenge to controversial House Bill 1020, set to become law

Both have repeatedly said their intentions are to increase safety in the capital city, both for the sake of its residents and for all Mississippians who may want to visit. In the House on Friday, many of the same Democrats who spoke for nearly five hours against the bill earlier in the session rose again. Rep. Alyce Clarke, D-Jackson, was the first Black woman to be elected to the Mississippi Legislature and announced her retirement earlier in session. With the session's end looming, some of her final words to the House were urging them to oppose HB 1020. Instead, the rate will increase by 0.5% every year for four years beginning in July. The bill would also require the PERS board to make contribution rate recommendations to the legislature accompanied by two financial reports backing up why the increase might be necessary.

Mississippi Legislature 2024 Regular Session

Attorneys for the NAACP cited developments in the state lawsuit as a reason to ask for a temporary restraining order blocking Randolph from appointing temporary judges, according to its Thursday court filing. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate granted the motion in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP, which would stop Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Michael Randolph from appointing four temporary special judges to the Hinds County Circuit Court, according to court documents. With only nine days left in the legislative session, Mississippi Senate and House lawmakers voted Friday to move forward revived legislation dealing with K-12 education funding, and a bill to reform contribution rates within the state retirement system.

Justices Skeptical At H.B. 1020 Hearing Over Unelected Judges In Jackson - Mississippi Free Press

Justices Skeptical At H.B. 1020 Hearing Over Unelected Judges In Jackson.

Posted: Fri, 07 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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Any judge to be authorized under this subsectionshall be elected from the subdistrict as provided by Section (2)(e). “I think the Mississippi Supreme Court did the right thing in finding that judicial appointments required under 1020 just blatantly violated the state constitution, which requires expressly that they shall be elected by the people. The people of Jackson really did not do what the authors of this bill and leadership in the legislature anticipated.

An accompanying bill passed by the House later Friday clarified Capitol Police's role outside of the CCID. Capitol Police would have primary jurisdiction inside the district, which was created in 2017 to funnel sales tax dollars toward infrastructure projects in an area with a high number of state government buildings that pay no property tax. In the rest of the city, Capitol Police would have secondary jurisdiction, with the Jackson Police Department holding primary. "This is what you stay here, the last day of the session, to send people to prison for a misdemeanor."

Active Mississippi Bills (Introduced, Engrossed, Enrolled, Passed)

"No adequate police force because of failure to respect the police force of the administration, and the fire departments, and a failure of the Hinds County leadership to support its own courthouse and its jail." Previous versions of the bill would have expanded the CCID to include some of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city, in Northeast Jackson, but the final conference committee report changed those boundaries. The area was also expanded to include lower-income areas south of Jackson State University. Wiggins said Thursday that those changes were made after listening to feedback from the community. That said, Democrats in the legislature and Jackson's local elected officials have stood sharply in opposition to a plan they say is being forced on a majority-Black city by a majority-white state government.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba called it "the most oppressive legislation that we have seen in our city's history." Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, said her white colleagues cannot understand the fear that Black parents have for their children interacting with police. As the bill's opponents begin to consider legal challenges, Johnson said judges will see the issue in sending misdemeanor offenders to state prisons. Johnson said the final version of the bill is "worse than it was last time we looked it at," then he also spent significant time speaking against it. Rep. Christopher Bell, D-Jackson, said the bill would effectively create a city within a city. "Vote against this bill. Do the right thing. Do the Christian thing. Do as you would want somebody to do if it was your city," Clarke said.

The suit also argues that some tax money will be diverted from Jackson and placed in a fund supporting the Capitol Complex Improvement District projects. JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Senate passed its version of a controversial bill Tuesday, allowing for an expanded role of appointed judges and state police in the county court system where the capital city of Jackson is majority-Black. In a news release, Reeves said, “This legislation won’t solve the entire problem, but if we can stop one shooting, if we can respond to one more 911 call – then we’re one step closer to a better Jackson. Four judges will be appointed by Chief Justice Michael Randolph, who is white and from Hattiesburg in south Mississippi. An additional court would be created within the district to hear misdemeanor cases and to conduct preliminary hearings in felony cases.

Owens said they oppose both versions because the Senate version does not address many of the root causes of delays in the local legal system, like funding of the public defender's office, the state crime lab, and Jackson Police Department. "The plaintiffs are also asking this court to issue an injunction terminating all of the temporary judges who were previously appointed," Shannon said. Johnson cited the state's constitution, which stipulates that judges "shall be elected," other than in what Johnson called "very limited circumstances." Those can include a judge unable to or disqualified from presiding. TheCity of Jackson, at all times, shall adequately staff its police departmentwith the necessary number of law enforcement officers. The Jackson Police Departmentshall continue to enforce all ordinances of the City of Jackson. (6)  An amount each month beginningAugust 15, 1983, through November 15, 1986, as specified in Section 6, Chapter 542,Laws of 1983, shall be paid into the special fund known as the Correctional FacilitiesConstruction Fund created in Section 6, Chapter 542, Laws of 1983.

However, the bill does account for funding shortfalls in districts that have declining populations. To address that concern and give school districts an opportunity to grow, for the first three years of the new program, no district will receive less funding than it did in FY 2024, which ends June 30. House members took a third swipe at passing a new funding model for K-12 education by passing House Bill 4130, dubbed the Mississippi Student Funding Formula, or MSFF.

Though Johnson argued that the plaintiffs have standing because they pay taxes in Hinds County, vote in the county and could possibly appear before a court in the future, Shannon argued that the plaintiffs lack standing because they cannot show that allowing the bill to become law would cause them harm. (25)  (a)  It shall be the dutyof the municipal officials of any municipality that expands its limits, or of anycommunity that incorporates as a municipality, to notify the commissioner of thataction thirty (30) days before the effective date. Failure to so notify the commissionershall cause the municipality to forfeit the revenue that it would have been entitledto receive during this period of time when the commissioner had no knowledge ofthe action. (4)  All fines, penalties,fees and costs imposed and collected by the CCID inferior court shall be depositedwith the City of Jackson municipal treasurer or equivalent officer.

Monies allocated for distributionand credited to a municipal corporation under this paragraph may be pledged as securityfor a loan if the distribution received by the municipal corporation is otherwiseauthorized or required by law to be pledged as security for such a loan. A municipal corporation, forthe purpose of distributing the tax under this subsection, shall mean and includeall incorporated cities, towns and villages. (1) The Administrative Office of Courts, in consultation with the Chief Justice ofthe Mississippi Supreme Court, shall appoint a clerk for the Capitol ComplexImprovement District (CCID) inferior court. Bobby Harrison, Mississippi Today’s senior capitol reporter, covers politics, government and the Mississippi State Legislature. He also writes a weekly news analysis which is co-published in newspapers statewide.

But a few days later after the Senate Judiciary A Committee stripped the appointed, permanent judges from the bill, the Republican governor seemed less pleased with the proposal. At one point, even Gov. Tate Reeves, who often has been critical of the elected leadership in Jackson and has brashly highlighted the city’s crime problems, seemed to question the constitutionality of the bill after it passed the House. But Jackson Attorney Luther Munford, who specializes in constitutional law and previously served as the head of former Gov. Ray Mabus’ judicial nominating committee, recently opined the bill is unconstitutional on another level. He argues it creates a judicial system that is not allowed by the Mississippi Constitution. That lack of a conversation concerns Wade, particularly as the Senate version would expand the jurisdiction of Capitol Police to include the entire city of Jackson, making it concurrent with the jurisdiction of Jackson police. Supporters of the bill in the majority-white and Republican-led Mississippi Senate and House have said they are trying to improve public safety in Jackson, which has had more than 100 homicides during each of the past three years.