'Most oppressive legislation': Mississippi House passes controversial bill
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Constitution by shifting authority over the county’s criminal justice system away from democratically-elected judges and prosecutors elected by Black voters. The Departmentof Revenue shall require all distributors of gasoline and diesel fuel toreport to the department monthly the totalnumber of gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel sold by them to consumers and retailersin each municipality during the preceding month. The Department of Revenue shall have the authority to promulgate suchrules and regulations as is necessary to determine the number of gallons of gasolineand diesel fuel sold by distributors to consumers and retailers in each municipality. In determining the percentage allocation of funds under this subsection for thefiscal year beginning July 1, 1987, and ending June 30, 1988, the Department ofRevenue may consider gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel sold for a period of lessthan one (1) fiscal year. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "fiscalyear" means the fiscal year beginning July 1 of a year. The state's supreme court chief justice, the AG, the state public defender and the public safety commissioner currently in office are white.
Bill Text: MS HB1020 2023 Regular Session Enrolled
One amendment that was defeated would require the appointed judges to come from Hinds County. Lamar said by allowing the judges to come from areas other than Hinds County would ensure “the best and brightest” could serve. Black legislators said the comment implied that he judges and other court staff could not be found within the Black majority population of Hinds County.
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� Then east along the southcurb line of High Street and extending such line to the Pearl River and thepoint of the beginning. TheDepartment of Finance and Administration in conjunction with the AdministrativeOffice of Courts shall designate a suitable location or building for thepurpose of allowing the Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) inferior courtto hold court. (2) The Administrative Officeof Courts shall provide support staff and any other staff necessary to carryout the functions and duties for the clerk of the CCID inferior court. (2) The Hinds County DistrictAttorney shall be authorized to prosecute cases in the CCID inferior court.
MS HB1020 2023 Regular Session
Stewart, the attorney for the state, told the justices to think about the consequences of their ruling, which could mean that the chief justice can’t make any appointments and that past ones could be ruled invalid. Kitchens asked whether municipal courts currently operate like the CCID court, including having the power to send people charged with misdemeanors to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. State constitution places limits on inferior courts created by the Legislature, including requirements that the court be supervised by another and they have the ability to appeal, which the appellants argue is not the case for the CCID court. A “far reaching” implication for siding with the state would be taking power away from Hinds County voters and giving it to the Legislature, Johnson said, and he wondered what precedent would be set for its ability to approve appointed judges in other circumstances. The Senate proposal would continue to allow judges appointed by Chief Justice Michael Randolph to hear cases in Hinds County through the end of 2026. But in 2026, a new judge would be elected and the appointed judges would be removed.
“We look forward to working with the Senate through the conference process, which I do believe the bill will end up in conference and hopefully soon, within the next week or two. We have met, and the governor is, like I think most everybody here, including Republicans and Democrats, regardless or in spite of what the national news is portraying, are in lockstep that we’d like to see a safer capital city,” said Lamar. “I just know I believe in the right to vote and elect judges as stated in the constitution,” she said after the oral arguments.
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"This is probably the last time I'll be up here, but it's been a pleasure. It hasn't all been a pleasure, but most of it has been a pleasure. Have a good day." "Legal action takes place when there is a cause of action. Cause of action does not become effective until the law actually is enacted. As soon as this bill becomes law, there will be lawsuits filed," House Minority Leader Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said.
Wingate later gave the chief justice the opportunity to clarify what he meant by that statement, to which Randolph said it was solely targeted at the legal arguments made by the NAACP attorneys. A separate challenge to HB 1020, based in state law, will soon appear before Randolph's court, with a hearing scheduled for July 6. A request for Randolph to recuse himself has been filed, and the chief justice said his legal team is working on its response.
Johnson particularly spoke against an aspect of the bill that would allow the CCID inferior court, which would only try misdemeanors and preliminary aspects of felony cases, to send convicted individuals to prisons run by the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Municipal courts, which the CCID court has been compared to in scope, send those convicted of misdemeanors to local jails. The bill was first authored by Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, and later altered significantly by Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula. Lamar lives about two and a half hours from Jackson, while the Wiggins lives about three hours away.
Mississippi Senate passes controversial House Bill 1020 with amendments
It was sent to Lamar’s committee by Speaker Philip Gunn instead of a House Judiciary Committee, where similar legislation normally would be heard. Rep. Blackmon, a civil rights leader who has a decades-long history of championing voting issues, equated the current legislation to the Jim Crow-era 1890 Constitution that was written to strip voting rights from Black Mississippians. Lamar said that he was unfairly labeled as a racist when all he was trying to do is aid the citizens of Jackson — many of whom he said had asked for help with the crime problems besetting Mississippi’s capital and largest city. Nelson argued that Randolph would have to follow any order Wingate issued on constitutionality, regardless of whether he was specifically named in the lawsuit. Randolph told Wingate that the four appointments he has made to the Hinds County Court have yielded "marvelous results" in the face of rising crime and judicial backlogs, both of which have occurred throughout the state. JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - We’re just two days away from the Mississippi Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in the appeal for a House Bill 1020 challenge.
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The legislation gives a state police force primary jurisdiction within the Capitol Complex and secondary jurisdiction throughout the city. The legislation would create a separate judicial and law enforcement district within the Capital Complex Improvement District. Four judges would be appointed by Chief Justice Michael Randolph, who is white and from Hattiesburg. Hinds County, which has a total Black population of 70%, includes the City of Jackson, which has a total Black population of over 79.5%.
While Nelson has been adamant throughout the proceedings that his client cannot take a position on the constitutionality of HB 1020, Randolph did speak to the effectiveness of the judges he has appointed to the Hinds County Court in the past. District Judge Henry Wingate earlier this month, but attorneys for the NAACP asked Wingate for clarification Thursday, and Mark Nelson, an attorney for Randolph, asked the judge to declare his earlier decision a final order. Nelson said he was shocked to see the plaintiffs motion for clarification, adding that it is really an attempt to challenge Wingate's earlier decision.
Regardless, the reason for the law doesn’t matter because the circumstances don’t justify the actions the Legislature is taking – even in an emergency situation. “This simply boils down to policy disagreement,” said Solicitor General Scott Stewart, who is representing the attorney general and governor. The author of the original House version is House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, a Repubnlican from Senatobia. The effort is being undertaken, Republican leaders say, to help deal with crime and a backlog of criminal cases in Hinds County.
One of those shootings proved fatal, resulting in the death of 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis. She said she has not heard anything from Capitol Police regarding her son's death, not even a notification that it had happened. The origin of this discrepancy, Lowery said, is that Owens' office is funded by the state while Lowery's is funded by the county. Lawyers from the state countered Johnson's arguments, including Rex Shannon, special assistant attorney general and deputy director of the office's civil litigation division. Shannon argued that Johnson's request for an injunction should be denied "for two overarching reasons." JACKSON, Miss. – Tuesday night, the Mississippi House of Representatives passed House Bill 1020, a plan that increases policing, strips voting and political power away from the majority Black citizens of Jackson, and diverts tax dollars away from communities in need.
That is a move that some, like Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, have compared to Jim Crow and apartheid. (1) The Attorney General shall designate two (2) attorneys to serve as prosecutingattorneys for any cause of action within the jurisdiction of the Capitol ComplexImprovement District (CCID) inferior court. The prosecuting attorneys may beemployees of the Office of the Attorney General or contracted by the Attorney Generalfor such purposes. (2) The Chief Justiceof the Mississippi Supreme Court shall appoint the CCID inferior court judgeauthorized by this section.
The bills would also expand the jurisdiction of Capitol Police, a state police agency managed by the Department of Public Safety and its appointed agency head who is white. Every other municipality in the state has a local police force with main jurisdiction. HB 1020 directs Randolph to appoint four judges to a Capitol Complex Improvement District court within the Hinds County circuit court.
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