This site provides current information regarding the status of legislation. It is updated nightly, usually between the hours of 6:00pm and 9:00pm, during which time the web server may be unaccessible. Due to certain deadlines, there will be nights that the updates are not initiated and therefore not completed until much later in the evening. Regardless, all information should be updated by the morning of the next legislative day.
The information is presented in the form of reports as well as documents representing the different versions of each measure. The reports have "Hot Links" to other information on the site. Each report has a button linking a set of "Instructions" describing each of these links as well as the report in general.
There is a button on the main menu, "Select a Measure", which displays a form for selecting a specific measure. By filling in required information and clicking on the "Find" button, the user will get the "History of Actions and Background Information" page for that measure. From this page, the user can get to information pertaining to the measure, including all versions of the text.
The different versions of legislation are: "As Introduced", "Committee Substitute", "As Passed/Adopted", and "As Sent To Governor". The "As Passed" and "As Adopted" version refer only to the house in which the legislation was introduced (house of origin). No new version is created when it passes the second house and not every version will necessarily be created for each piece of legislation. Some Legislation will not pass, some will not have a "Committee Substitute" and many will never be sent to the Governor. When a new version is created it will be available on this site no later than the next legislative day.
Creation of the new version is the key to it being available on this site. By Rule, legislation that has passed the house of origin must lay over one day before it can be sent to the second house for consideration. If a "Motion to Reconsider" is made then the legislation is held until that motion is handled. Only then will the "As Passed" version be created, thus available on this site the next day, and forwarded to the second house. The same is true for the "As Sent to Governor" version.
The site will NOT contain any amendments or conference reports. These documents can be obtained by calling the appropriate docket room at 601-359-3358 (House) and 601-359-3229 (Senate).
The report types provided are: "Measures by Committee", "Measures by Author",
"Measures by Subject", "List of All Measures", "History of Actions and Background Information",
and "Daily Action Reports". Following is an explanation of each:
Measures by Committee: A list of all measures that have been referred to the selected committee.
Measures by Author: A list of all measures of which the selected member is principal author or co-author.
Measures by Subject: A list of measures that have been assigned a subject code by the Reference Bureau for legislation affecting a particular topic.
List of All Measures: List of all legislation to date for the specified session. Use the built-in find capabilities of the web browser to search for key words.
History of Actions and Background Information: Information relative to a particular measure. This report is not linked from the main menu page but reached through the Select a Measure feature or from links on other reports.
Daily Action Reports: A list of all measures that had actions take place on a given date.
If you visited this site last year, you probably noticed considerable changes this year. It is anticipated that this site will continue to change from year to year. Future changes that are planned include: 1) displaying amendments that are offered; 2) displaying conference reports that are offered; 3) providing web enabled real-time status; 4) displaying legislation exactly as it was printed. The implementation of these planned changes is not yet scheduled. Rest assured that this site will not look the same next year or the year after. If you have a suggestion for how to make this site better please send it to webmaster@mail.ls.state.ms.us.