Jackson Free Press

The House and Senate spent all of March firing bills at one another, waiting to see what the other side was going to do with them. It's that time of the session now where both chambers get to face the mutated monsters that come back to them.

HB 520 is a clear example. When it left the House, it was a bill that imposed new penalties for falsely reporting child abuse, such as what might be done by a vengeful spouse during the turmoil of a divorce. The anti-abortion Senate revised it, added a whole new section. The new bill, sporting the lofty title "The Child Protection Act of 2008," now penalizes not only parents, but also teachers, physicians, clergy, law officers and many others for not reporting suspected cases of child abuse to authorities.

Rep. John Mayo, D-Clarksdale, said he feared the bill redefined the state definition of legal abortion to exclude abortions due to rape, incest or the physical health of the mother by omitting the exclusion section "of what is not an abortion."

Mayo originally voted for the bill, but later changed his vote after noting that the definition of abortion in the bill's subsection included instances such as removing an ectopic pregnancy, removing a dead unborn child or removing the baby to preserve the health of the unborn child. But it contains no clause regarding the physical health of the mother or instances of rape or incest, potentially giving argument to anti-abortionists looking to challenge the old abortion definition in court.

"So which definition of abortion are we going to use? You tell me you read it and you can't figure it out? Well, neither could many of us. The truth is, the Child Protection Act sets out a somewhat new definition of abortion," Mayo said.

The language of the amendment was difficult and meandering, according to some House members, many of whom still voted for it, including Republicans such as Rep. Phillip Gunn, of Clinton, and Rep. Brian Aldridge, of Tupelo—both of whom supported the amendment, but were unable to describe exactly what the language was saying.

Mayo and other representatives say the bill also forces issues into the public eye that some parents would probably prefer to keep quiet. The bill demands, for example, that if your minor daughter gets pregnant by her minor boyfriend, you'll have no option but to call the law and throw the whole thing out in front of the neighbors.

"Your 14-year-old daughter is dating a 16-year-old boy, and you're not happy with it. Say she comes home pregnant. Now, are you going to handle this as a family matter or handle it as a criminal matter? Well, if the bill becomes law, you won't have a choice."

The House nevertheless passed the bill and its new restrictions, but death comes easy for a bill in the Legislature. House Bill 520 got held on a motion to reconsider, and now sits in the Judiciary B Committee, where committee Chairman Willie Bailey, D-Greenwood, will likely let it die, by many accounts.

The Senate and the House passed a slew of other bills last week, including SB 2910, which creates a task force to study the state's election laws and establishes an early voting pilot program in Alcorn, Boliver, Lafayette, Washington and Lauderdale Counties.

If the governor signs the bill, persons in those counties will be able to place their vote up to 25 days prior to the election, giving an advantage to the schedule challenged.

Rep. John Hines, D-Greenville, praised the bill this week. "I think it's an opportunity for kids going off to school and for people who have to travel a lot or people who have health issues to participate in the voting process," Hines told the Jackson Free Press. "I think it's one of the more progressive voting bills that we've produced."

The program is a pilot program, after all. If it proves successful, and nothing burns down, legislators may consider expanding the program to encompass the whole state in later sessions. Many other states, like California and Oregon, already permit early statewide voting.

The Senate and the House also sought to take a swing at underage drinking this week by effectively passing SB 2526, which makes it unlawful for minors to use fake ID to buy hooch. Violators could pay up to $500 and get stuck with 30 days of community service. An unexpected bonus to the bill: You can take your bottle of restaurant wine home with you if you don't finish it all in one gulp.

Neither the House nor Senate managed to come to an agreement upon how to finance the ailing Medicaid budget last week. Legislators are still hoping to see if state hospitals are willing to cough up some extra money to help fund Medicaid. Many Democrats are still crying for a hike in the state's miniscule tobacco tax, which former tobacco lobbyist Gov. Haley Barbour has staunchly opposed in the past.