JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The first month of the 2024 Legislative Session is nearing a close, and it has been an action-packed start to the year.
There have been two special sessions and movement on a ballot initiative bill already, all under new House leadership.
House Speaker Jason White (R-District 48) was sworn in on January 2 and has hit the ground running. The first bout of major action under his leadership came when this year’s push to restore the ballot initiative was brought up on the House floor.
The bill has been criticized for its restrictions on what can get on the ballot, the most notable being any restoration of abortion rights.
White offered some insight as to why that language was included and why he believes the best way to handle abortion in Mississippi is through the legislative process.
“I think after 50 or 60 years of living in Roe v. Wade world, the pro-life movement, my colleagues who got elected and came here on a pro-life platform, they weren’t willing to just all of a sudden throw that into the realm of ballot initiatives,” he explained. “Sometimes I drawback when people say, ‘Oh, well, there are going to be forces from outside the state that come here and get involved in our, our referendum process.’ I think that’s probably always been around from the beginning and in anywhere where you see ballot initiatives. But, certainly folks all over the country are very passionate about that issue. And I wouldn’t want to make Mississippi, you know, their playground or their place for where, where other states and lots of money would just pour into our state on an, on a hot button issue like that. I think it’s better approached through the legislative process. And so, that’s why that was added as an additional space where the initiative would not be able to change those laws. Those would simply come through legislation.”
The bill passed the House 80-39 with one absent vote, narrowly reaching the two-thirds vote threshold needed for the bill to pass.
Through Mississippi’s old ballot initiative process, voters could have gathered enough signatures to put abortion rights on the ballot.