Conferees back off the 20-year shoplifting language

Yesterday, I posted about the conference report for SB 2430, which created unbelievable 20-year sentences for what is currently misdemeanor shoplifting.  The message about this terrible language made it to the Senate yesterday, who sent the bill back to conference.

The conferees (this time including Sen. Hob Bryan) all agreed to strip the new language from the conference report.  The second conference report is here.

Civil libertarian concerns aside (why should the state get to take and store someone's DNA without a search warrant, just because they've been charged with a crime of violence?), I don't see the new conference report having any trouble passing both chambers now.

The end run around criminal justice reform

I told anyone who would listen that you just can't trust some of these folks when it comes to criminal justice reform. For them, it's forever 1995, and they can't find enough people (outside of their own family and friends, mind you) to pack into a penitentiary. 

So in spite of the advancements in sentencing laws that were just signed by Governor Bryant yesterday, the conferees on SB 2430 added a provision to that bill that would punish any two individuals who work together to shoplift anything of any value with up to 20 YEARS IN PRISON. Notice I said "anything of value". That's because the conference report makes no distinction between felony or misdemeanor shoplifting. 

So, what does this mean in reality if this bill passes? It means that come July 1, if two college freshmen decided to go steal a six-pack of beer from the local convenience store, they'd be arrested, charged with a felony, have to post felony bonds, face indictment, and stand trial before a jury of twelve. If convicted, the judge could then sentence them to up to 20 years in the penitentiary. Can't we find something better to do with our time?

I have no doubt that the conferees will respond by saying that this bill isn't aimed at college students being stupid, but rather at organized theft rings that go after retailers in places like Flowood. Here's the thing, though: in life, it ain't who you aim for, it's who you hit. 

I could have sworn it was that exact realization that led to sentencing reform this year. I guess I was wrong. 

For the record, the conferees who gave us this monstrosity are all attorneys who should know better. They are: Sen. Brice Wiggins (R - Pascagoula), Sen. Sally Doty (R - Brookhaven), Rep. Andy Gipson (R - Braxton), Rep. Dennis DeBar (R - Leakesville), and Rep. Joey Hood (R - Ackerman). Sen. Hob Bryan (D - Amory) was a conferee, but he refused to sign the conference report.

My instincts tell me that Sen. Wiggins is just trying to save his DNA collection bill, to which the problematic language was added, and that Rep. Gipson pushed for the addition in response to lobbying from retailers and Rankin County law enforcement who weren't happy with the way Gipson's sentencing reform law handled shoplifting. 

Floor action is expected today. 

Personhood all over again

Rep. Tracy Arnold (R - Booneville)

Rep. Andy Gipson (R - Braxton)

They just don't stop.  Rep. Tracy Arnold (R - Booneville) has authored the "Protection of the Human Person Act", which is the defeated Personhood Amendment all over again.  Despite having a ridiculous name, the bill is full of statements like this:

That the State of Mississippi acknowledges and respects the supremacy of the United States Constitution but reserves the right to legally challenge unsound interpretations of the United States Constitution which infringe on the human rights and civil liberties of the people of the State of Mississippi and the sovereignty of the State of Mississippi;

(I don't believe the word "sovereignty" has been mentioned this much by Mississippi politicians in 50 years.)

The bill has been given the number HB 819, and you can follow its progress here.

If you'd like to contact Rep. Arnold, you may do so via telephone at (601) 359-2438 or email at warnold@house.ms.gov.  The bill has been assigned to House Judiciary Committee "B", which is chaired by Rep. Andy Gipson (R - Braxton).  You may contact him at (601)359-1541 or agipson@house.ms.gov

Wonder what Jones Walker clients think about Leviticus?

When Rep. Andy Gipson (R-Braxton) is not attempting to reenact the Babylonian Exile at the state legislature, he serves as Special Counsel for the regional corporate defense firm, Jones Walker.  This rather innocuous fact has taken on greater significance in light of Rep. Gipson's interesting homily on homosexuality.

On its website, Jones Walker provides an index of its "Representative Clients," a list that touts some of the more gay-friendly employers in corporate America.  Take, for example, General Electric Company, an organization that has formed a GLBTA Alliance to "attract, develop, and retain gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender employees."  You will also find Chevron Corporation, the first major integrated energy company to include sexual orientation in its nondiscriminatory policies and offer domestic partner benefits to its employees.  The list also includes Sodexo, a leading integrated food company that, in 2009, was named one of the top ten employers for the LGBT community by DiversityInc.  This is to say nothing of those companies on the list who have adopted strong anti-discrimination policies like Devon Energy Corp. or Tulane University, a school with an Office of Muticultural Affairs that welcomes members of the LGBT community to campus.  

These companies may be interested to know that one of their lawyers has gone public with a rather different view on equality and such.    

Say what you will, Mississippi's making headlines because its Republicans are crazy

"[The Left's] one mission in life is to abort children, is to kill children in the womb."

"And of course, there you have the other side, they're like 'Well, the poor pitiful women that can't afford to go out of state are just going to start doing their own [abortions] with coat hangers.'  That's what we heard over and over and over but hey, you have to have more babies and you have to start somewhere."

"Been a lot of press on Obama's opinion on 'homosexual marriage.'  The only opinion that counts is God's: see Romans 1:26-28 and Leviticus 20:13.  Anyway you slice it, it is sin.  Not to mention horrific social policy."

Leviticus 20:13 reads: "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.  they are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

These are the not the musings of normal, everyday Americans.  They are, however, the widely published statements of Mississippi's Governor, its House Vice-Chairman of Banking and Financial Services, and House Chairman of the Judiciary B Committee, respectively.

Despite what the Republican Party would have you believe, the national attention being given to these remarks is not due to some vast left-wing conspiracy and it's not because anyone put words into someone's mouth.  It's because these words, as they came out of the mouths and computers of the men who spoke and wrote them, are objectively offensive and more than a little looney.

What should give any reasonable Mississippi Republican pause is that three different party leaders on three separate occassions said three different maniacal things within one month.  That's no coincidence.

Expect more "We look like Mississippi" statements anytime anyone anywhere does something nutty until Mississippi's new Republican leadership decides that there are some brands of crazy that even it won't tolerate.

2012 Legislative Session: How do you measure success?

In an article titled "Key leaders in the four-month 2012 Legislative Session," the Clarion Ledger listed notable Republicans and Democrats and their 2012 accomplishments.  It's a telling piece that provides some insight into the differences between the agendas of the state's largest parties and how these parties measure "success."  Here are some highlights:

Republicans

• Gov. Phil Bryant: "revising workers' compensation law to protect employers"
• Speaker Philip Gunn: "Supported passage of conservative legislative priorities, like the Sunshine Act to limit the [A]ttorney [G]eneral's power in hiring outside counsel, led House to pass illegal immigration enforcement bill and several anti-abortion measures"
• Rep. Andy Gipson (R-Braxton): "Championed anti-abortion legislation, such as the [new] law requiring abortion physicians obtain hospital admitting privileges, passed bills enforcing illegal immigration and outlawing abortion where a fetal heartbeat is detectable"

Democrats

• Bobby Moak (D-Bogue Chitto): "Worked to unite House Democrats in opposition to" charter school bill and workers' compensation bill.
• Rep. Steve Holland (D-Plantersville): "Worked to restore level funding for Medicaid and public health, including securing $2.5 million for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS federal matching dollars"
• Rep. Cecil Brown (D-Jackson): "Worked to restore level funding for public education and successfully proposed removing immigration provision requiring schools to check status of students"

If we were to extrapolate party platform planks based on the 2012 session, it might go something like this: 

Workers' compensation

• Republicans support a workers' compensation program that protects employers by limiting payments to injured Mississippi workers. 
• Democrats support a workers' compensation program that pays injured Mississippi workers fairly.

Attorney General

• Republicans disagree with the constitutional provisions outlining the office of the attorney general and believe that this officer should be more restricted than any other statewide office and only act where all agencies and the legislature agree 
• Democrats agree with the constitution and believe it is important for Mississippi to have a chief lawyer

Illegal immigration

• Republicans do not believe that there can be too many laws referencing illegal immigration
• Democrats passed a law that placed restrictions on employers who create an incentive to break the law and do not support unfunded mandates that create unwarranted problems for law enforcement and municipalities in the name of fighting illegal immigration

Budget

• At the beginning of the session, Republicans, through Governor Bryant's budget recommendation, proposed $70 million cuts to public education and significant cuts to public health.
• Democrats offered an alternative budget that provided level funding for education and public health and were largely successful in making these changes during the budgeting process.