The Mississippi Senate has fulfilled a pledge by Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann to trim some of the governmental fat.
On Monday, the chamber voted unanimously to pass SB 2017. The bill, authored by Republican Tyler McCaughn from Newton, repeals numerous portions of state code that establish various advisory boards, commissions, and councils now deemed obsolete.
Ahead of the legislative session, Hosemann promised to work toward making state government more efficient and reliable in Mississippi, while simultaneously removing commissions that are no longer needed.
“State government should be efficient, accountable, and focused on results, not burdened by unnecessary bureaucracy,” Hosemann wrote on social media after the vote. “By running state government like a business, we’ve cut taxes by more than $1 billion a year, made historic investments in infrastructure and education, and paid off over one-third of Mississippi’s debt.”
SB 2017 slashed 22 boards, commissions, and councils, including:
- Arkansas-Mississippi Bridge Commission
- Bienville Recreational District
- Mississippi Council of Advisors in Acupuncture
- Mississippi Interagency Council on Homelessness
- Harrison County Parkway Commission
- Mississippi Commission on the Holocaust
- Control of the Beauvior (the Jefferson Davis shrine)
- Mississippi Advisory Council on Faith-Based Initiatives
- Civil War Battlefield Commission
- Mississippi Electronic Recording Commission
- Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission
- Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Commission
- Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel
- Council on Obesity Prevention and Management
- Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women
- Mississippi Coordinating Council for Remote Sensing and Graphic Information Systems
- Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Advisory Commission
- Mississippi Windstorm Mitigation Coordinating Council
- Commission of Road Protection
- Deep Draft Harbor and Terminal
- Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Authority
- Mississippi Superconducting Super Collider Authority
According to the legislation, road protection duties, including notifications, compensation claims, assessments, and appeals related to highway construction or widening, will now be managed by individual counties’ boards of supervisors. The bill now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.