Mississippi lawmakers are set to return to the Capitol this month with a central feature of citizen participation largely missing: structured, reliable chances for residents to speak or submit testimony as bills move through committee. Reporting distributed through the Associated Press says that while citizens and advocates can sometimes be invited to speak, Mississippi does not provide formal opportunities for constituents to offer public comment or testimony in committee hearings, including remote or written input.
Sarah Moreland-Russell, an associate professor at the School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis who has studied how testimony affects lawmaking, said she was “very surprised” to learn there are no regular opportunities for Mississippi residents to provide testimony at the statehouse. In her remarks, she asked how policymakers could know whether a policy would be effective if they are not hearing from the people affected by it.
Across the country, the AP report points to different approaches that allow more public engagement in state legislative processes. In Louisiana, House and Senate rules require opportunities for proponents and opponents of bills to speak, while Alaska has offices statewide that provide options for participating in meetings and submitting written public comment. Colorado gives every bill a hearing with public comment, and Arizona allows residents to register opinions and request to testify online.
Moreland-Russell’s research, as described in the report, found that legislators across parties often view testimony from constituents and experts as influential. The report says testimony can increase lawmakers’ awareness of issues, encourage additional research, and sometimes change votes, with Moreland-Russell saying “Stories can be extremely influential,” especially when personal anecdotes are paired with data.
Within Mississippi, advocates argue that the committee process often moves with limited public visibility and debate. The AP report says bills frequently advance through committee with little discussion by lawmakers and without input from the public, and it cites the Senate’s “typo-riddled” bill to phase out the income tax that passed committee quickly during the 2025 legislative session. Hob Bryan, the Senate Public Health Committee chairman, said hearings used to involve more debate, amendments, and discussion among subcommittees, but he characterized the current process as “Everything now is just perfunctory.”
The report also describes uneven access to committee proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic era, when many state legislatures adopted remote public participation. Mississippians who do not live in Jackson, or cannot attend in person, still lack the opportunity to watch many committee proceedings, the report says. It notes that the Mississippi House of Representatives does not livestream or record its committee meetings, although it does livestream proceedings in the House chamber, while the Mississippi Senate livestreams most committee meetings and all full chamber proceedings.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s office pointed to Senate livestreaming as part of its transparency approach. Spokesperson Hannah Milliet said in an email that Senate livestreaming is a marker of Hosemann’s commitment to transparency. The report also says House Speaker Jason White told Mississippi Today in 2024 he had no objection to livestreaming committee hearings and that the House Rules Committee would look into the policy. But House Rules Chairman Fred Shanks, interviewed in 2024 and quoted in the report, said in November there had not been any talk of livestreaming committee meetings, and White did not respond to a request for comment.
Beyond livestreaming, the AP report highlights proposals aimed at increasing notice and access for constituents. Safia Malin, interim policy director for the Jackson-based civic engagement nonprofit One Voice, said simple changes—like requiring committees to give notice of hearings and publish agendas ahead of time—would give residents more opportunities to participate. The report says the Senate has a page on the Legislature’s website to publish agendas, though they are not always shared, while the House does not post agendas online and committee hearings can occur at the last minute.
Rep. Jeramey Anderson, D-Escatawpa, has proposed for seven years a House rule requiring committees to post agendas 24 hours before meetings, but none of the proposals have made it out of committee, the report says. Anderson said in a written statement to Mississippi Today that Mississippians deserve to know what bills are being taken up before they walk into a committee room, “not five minutes before, and not after the decisions are already made,” and he added that “The refusal to provide even basic notice isn’t an accident.” He said it keeps the public from testifying, keeps advocates from participating, and keeps voters from holding elected officials accountable.
The report also ties the access question to whether the Legislature is subject to public-meeting requirements. It says the Mississippi Ethics Commission has repeatedly ruled that the Legislature is not covered by the state’s open meetings law, and that Hinds County Chancellor Dewayne Thomas affirmed that ruling in February. The House Republican Caucus, which holds a strong majority, frequently meets behind closed doors before committee meetings, according to the report, shielding some discussions on legislation from the public.
In contrast, the report describes Shanks defending his approach to constituent contact while saying committees can be too quick to make public comment practical. He said he has never had a constituent ask him about speaking at the Capitol and that he makes his phone number available for constituents to call him at any time. Shanks also said many committee meetings are short and last-minute, sometimes scheduled for a time right after the floor session, and he said, “It would be pretty hard to do.”