By John Corley 

The deadline for House committees to pass Senate bills occurred Tuesday. Any Senate bills that did not make it out of these committees died.

Throughout the rest of the week, the House met to discuss these bills.

Representatives passed a number of Senate bills, including the following:

“Katie’s Law” would be enacted with the passage of Senate Bill 2568, which provides that DNA samples may be destroyed by the Mississippi Forensics Lab only under certain conditions. Candidate hopefuls would have to meet a residency requirement with the passage of Senate Bill 2178. Anyone seeking the office of Highway Commissioner, Department of Agriculture Commissioner or District Attorney would have to be a resident of the state district in question for five years before running for the position.

In an effort to expand reemployment protections for military servicemen and veterans the House passed Senate Bill 2459, which would ensure that a service member or veteran be restored to his or her previous position after returning from training with the Armed Forces in another state. 

With the passage of Senate Bill 2527 no civil liability could be imposed against a person or entity for providing information about insurance fraud to any law enforcement, insurer or statutory residual market plan.

Municipalities that have voted to permit the sale and consumption of alcohol would be able to establish leisure and recreation districts with the passage of Senate Bill 2588. Leisure and recreation districts would allow consumers to walk from place to place with alcohol within a designated area. All Senate bills approved by the House will be sent back to the Senate for final concurrence. The Senate will begin sending House bills back for Representatives to finalize, as well. On Thursday, Representative Robert Huddleston of Sumner announced his resignation from the House of Representatives after 23 years of service. Governor Phil Bryant will determine when a special election for House District 30 will be held at a later date. Several groups visited legislators at the Capitol this week, including Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi Farm Bureau and the March of Dimes.