The Senate take on HB 1020 completely removes CCID language and adds special judges to existing Hinds County Court system.
Changes came for HB 1020 when it made its way to the Senate Judiciary A committee on Thursday where Senator Brice Wiggins (R) presented a strike all amendment to the legislation.
“Nobody anywhere in this building or anywhere can say that we don’t need to improve public safety. To that end, Jackson is the Capital city of the state of Mississippi. We work here, we have people here, we want a safe place,” said Wiggins.
Senator Brice Wiggins with Magnolia Tribune explaining provisions offered by the Senate in HB 1020.
The amendment made major changes to the proposed court system, the biggest of which, was removing all Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) language from the bill and all of the language pertaining to appointments of judges.
The changes made to the court system include:
- Codifies for the next three years funding for special judges and prosecutors for Hinds County.
- Provides for five “temporary special judges” to be appointed by the Chief Justice; funded through ARPA funds.
- The special judges would expire in 2026
- Provides for three additional Assistant District Attorneys to be permanent
- Provides for three Assistant Public Defenders and a second Assistant County Prosecutor to be funded by the Legislature.
- Beginning with the next election cycle there will be an elected judge in Hinds County.
The legislation does mirror some of the original language proposal by the House, in which body cameras and patrol vehicle cameras would be required to be worn by all capitol police.
According to the strike all, Capitol police would have an extended jurisdiction to serve the entire city of Jackson. This is not to be confused of an expansion of the lines of the CCID, two things that function separately, according to Wiggins.
In order for capitol police, which serve under the Department of Public Safety (DPS), and the Jackson Police Department to work in tandem throughout the entire city, a memorandum would have to be agreed upon between the two entities. If an memorandum was not signed, authority would fall under DPS.
“In the Senate for the last two years, has funded prosecutors and judges to help the city of Jackson. Those prosecutors and judges have been doing their job here at the state capitol,” said Wiggins. “The effect of the strike all that is before you, we are codifying what we’ve been doing as a state legislature for the last two years.”
Wiggins said prior to presenting the strike all he had conversations with the Hinds County District Attorney as well as members of the Jackson Delegation regarding the changes. He said in meetings with the Hinds DA it was indicated to him that the assistance that has come from the state up to this point, has greatly addressed the backlog issues in caseload.
Members of the Jackson Delegation in the House and Senate were present for the committee meeting.
“The bill is a lot less onerous than what the House sent us. There is still some work to be done though,” said Senator John Horhn (D), a member of the Jackson Delegation. He added that they would like to see some residency requirements made for the special appointed judges who would serve in these positions, particularly in District 7. He said they would prefer those individuals be hinds county residents.
He added that they would like to tweak the language in the memorandum to also include the Hinds County Sheriffs department.
Horhn said he hopes to see clear language on a “sunset” requirement for these special judges.
“If we’re trying to deal with backlog, lets deal with backlog and once we get the backlog disposed of the judges need to go away,” said Horhn. “We like to see that we are codifying what the state is already doing and is putting the actions of the state in statute rather than running it through the appropriations process.”
Senator Sollie Norwood (D) reiterated Horhn’s sentiments saying he thought there were positive changes that had been made, but it was still a working document and the process was not complete.
All indicators point to the bill going to conference.
-- Article credit to Sarah Ulmer of the Magnolia Tribune --
