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Mississippi House of Representatives
| Mississippi House of Representatives | |
 | |
| General Information | |
| Type: | Lower house |
| Term limits: | None |
| 2013 session start: | January 8, 2013 |
| Website: | Official House Page |
| Leadership | |
| House Speaker: | Philip Gunn, (R) |
| Majority Leader: | TBA (R) |
| Minority leader: | Tyrone Ellis (D) |
| Structure | |
| Members: | 122 |
| Democratic Party (58) Republican Party (63) Vacant (1) | |
| Length of term: | 4 years |
| Authority: | Art IV, Mississippi Constitution |
| Salary: | $10,000/year + per diem |
| Elections | |
| Last Election: | November 6, 2007 (122 seats) |
| Next election: | November 3, 2015 (122 seats) |
| Redistricting: | Legislature first draws, Commission acts as back-Up. |
Contents |
As of May 2013, Mississippi is one of 24 Republican state government trifectas.
Sessions
Article IV of the Mississippi Constitution establishes when the Mississippi State Legislature, of which the House of Representatives is a part, is to meet. Section 36 of Article IV states that the legislature is to convene in regular session on the Tuesday following the first Monday in January of each year. Section 36 limits the length of regular sessions to ninety calendar days, except for once every four years when the regular session can last up to one hundred twenty-five calendar days. The most recent one hundred twenty-five day session was in 2008, and the next session of this kind was in 2012.
Section 36 also allows the Legislature to extend its sessions for thirty days by a two-thirds vote of both legislative houses. There is no limit on the number of times a session can be extended in this way. In 2010, the Legislature extended its session once, moving the date of adjournment from April 3rd to May 3rd.
Article V of the Mississippi Constitution gives the Governor of Mississippi the power to call the Legislature into extraordinary session. Section 121 of Article V enumerates this power.
2013
- See also: Dates of 2013 state legislative sessions
In 2013, the Legislature will be in session from January 8 through April 7.
Major issues
Alongside creating a budget, legislators will address education issues, namely charter schools, and medicaid expansion.[4]
2012
- See also: Dates of 2012 state legislative sessions
In 2012, the Legislature was in session from January 3 through May 3.[5]
2011
In 2011, the House was in session from January 4 through April 7. [6]
2010
In 2010, the House was originally scheduled to be in session from January 5th to April 3rd. However, the session was extended to May 3rd. Additionally, a special session was held that convened on April 22nd and adjourned on April 23rd.[7]
Elections
2011
Elections for the office of Mississippi's state house representatives were held in Mississippi on November 8, 2011.
2007
As of the 2000 Census, Mississippi's 122 state representatives each represent an average population of 23,317 people. In 2007, the candidate running for state house raised a total of $6,201,617 in campaign contributions.
| Year | Number of candidates | Total contributions |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 253 | $6,201,617 |
| 2003 | 308 | $4,346,149 |
The top 10 donors were:[8]
| 2007 Donors, Mississippi House of Representatives | |
|---|---|
| Donor | Amount |
| Mississippi House Democratic Leadership | $343,247 |
| Mississippi Republican Party | $248,791 |
| Mississippi Association of Realtors | $113,200 |
| Mississippi Medical Association | $111,200 |
| Reeves, John | $106,730 |
| Lawyers Involved for Mississippi Betterment | $99,503 |
| AT&T | $91,809 |
| Mississippi Bankers Association | $90,500 |
| Mississippi Hospital Association | $86,250 |
| Improve Mississippi | $85,467 |
Vacancies
| How Vacancies are filled in State Legislatures |
 |
If there is a vacancy in the House, a special election is required to fill the vacant seat. The Governor must call for an election no later than 30 days after the vacancy happened. After the Governor sets the election date, the counties conducting the election must give no less than 45 days notice before the election. All qualifying deadlines are 30 days before the election[9].
No special election is held if the vacancy happens after June 1st in an election year[10].
Partisan composition
- See also: Partisan composition of state houses
| Party | As of May 2013 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 58 | |
| Republican Party | 63 | |
| Vacancy | 1 | |
| Total | 122 | |
The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Mississippi State House of Representatives from 1992-2013.
Redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Mississippi
The five-member Standing Joint Reapportionment Committee handles redistricting, with no veto power afforded to the Governor. Should it fail to finalize a plan on time, a backup commission -- composed of the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, and the Majority Leaders of both legislative chambers -- would take over the process. Mississippi is required to have its maps pre-cleared by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act.
2010 census
Mississippi received its local census data on February 3, 2011. The state's population grew 4.3 percent, with several of its well-known cities (Jackson, Gulfport, Biloxi) losing as much as 13 percent. Most of the state's population loss was in the north-central region and along the western edge.
Republicans controlled the Legislature and governorship at the time of redistricting. Because Mississippi holds legislative elections in odd-numbered years, the legislature was given a tight deadline -- June 1, 2011 -- for redistricting in time for the 2011 elections while allowing 60 days of review by the DOJ. The deadline passed without a plan, meaning any new maps would not take effect until 2015. Elections were held with the previous maps, and the House passed a new map in April 2012, with the Senate following in May.[11] The House plan includes five two-incumbent races. As of August 18, 2012, the maps were still with the Department of Justice for pre-clearance.[12]
Representatives
Leadership
The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the body.[13]
Current leadership
| Current Leadership, Mississippi House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Representative | Party |
| State Speaker of the House | Philip Gunn |  Republican
|
| State House Speaker Pro Tempore | Greg Snowden | Republican
|
| State House Minority Leader | Tyrone Ellis |  Democratic
|
Salaries
- See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries
As of 2013, members of the Mississippi legislature are paid $10,000/year. Per diem is $109/day tied to the federal rate.[14]
When sworn in
Mississippi legislators assume office the first day of the regular session of the year following election. The Constitution requires the Legislature to convene yearly on the Tuesday after the first Monday in January.
Current members
Standing committees
Mississippi House of Representatives has 46 standing committees:
- Agriculture
- Apportionment and Elections
- Appropriations
- Banking and Financial Services
- Compilation, Revision and Publication
- Congressional Redistricting
- Conservation and Water Resources
- Constitution
- Corrections
- County Affairs
- Education
- Energy
- Enrolled Bills
- Ethics
- Executive Contingent Fund
- Fees and Salaries of Public Officers
- Forestry
- Gaming
- Insurance
- Interstate Cooperation
- Investigative State Offices
- Judiciary A
- Judiciary B
- Judiciary En Banc
- Legislative Budget
- Legislative Reapportionment
- Local and Private Legislation
- Management
- Marine Resources
- Medicaid
- Military Affairs
- Municipalities
- PEER
- Ports, Harbors and Airports
- Public Health And Human Services
- Public Property
- Public Utilities
- Rules
- State Library
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Universities and Colleges
- Ways and Means
- Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks
- Workforce Development
- Youth and Family Affairs
It also has three select committees:
- Select Committee on Philanthropic Development
- Select Committee on Utility Cost Recovery
- Select Committee on Poverty
History
Partisan balance 1992-2013
From 1992-2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Mississippi State House of Representatives for the first 20 years while the Republicans were the majority for the last two years. The Mississippi State House of Representatives is one of 18 state Houses that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between 1992-2013. The final three years of the study depicted a shift not only in the Mississippi House but in the entire state government to the Republican party with the last two years being Republican trifectas.
Across the country, there were 577 Democratic and 483 Republican State Houses of Representatives from 1992 to 2013.
Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.
The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Mississippi, the Mississippi State Senate and the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1992-2013.
.PNG)
External links
- Official website of the Mississippi State Legislature
- Official list of the current members of the Mississippi House of Representatives
- Mississippi House of Representatives on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ Population in 2010 of the American states
- ↑ Population in 2000 of the American states
- ↑ "Mississippi House of Representatives" 2009 Timetable, March 12, 2009
- ↑ Sun Herald, "Mississippi legislative session sets off at saunter, not trot," January 8, 2013
- ↑ StateScape, Session schedules, accessed April 30, 2012
- ↑ Mississippi State Legislature
- ↑ 2010 session dates for Mississippi Legislature
- ↑ Follow the Money: "Mississippi House 2007 Campaign Contributions"
- ↑ Michie "Code of Mississippi"(Referenced Statute 23-15-851 (1))
- ↑ Michie "Code of Mississippi"(Referenced Statute 23-15-851 (2))
- ↑ The Associated Press, "Mississippi House adopts Senate redistricting plan," May 3, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
- ↑ Clarion Ledger, "Dems complain to Justice Dept., August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
- ↑ Mississippi House Membership
- ↑ NCSL.org, "2012 State Legislator Compensation and Per Diem Table," accessed March 18, 2013
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