Mississippi lawmakers rarely hear public testimony as hearings move fast

When the Mississippi Legislature reconvenes in the Capitol this month, citizens and advocates will face limited channels to influence legislation during committee hearings, where bills can advance with little public discussion. The Associated Press reports that, unlike some other states, Mississippi does not offer formal public comment or testimony opportunities in committee proceedings, whether in person, remotely, or in writing.

Sarah Moreland-Russell, an associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis who studies testimony’s impact on lawmaking, said she was “very surprised” to learn that there are no regular opportunities for Mississippi’s citizens to provide testimony at the statehouse. She questioned how legislators can assess whether policies will work as intended without hearing from the people affected by the decisions.

Moreland-Russell said her research has found that legislators, regardless of political party, tend to find testimony from constituents and experts influential. She said testimony can increase lawmakers’ awareness of issues, encourage additional research, and sometimes lead lawmakers to change votes; she added that “Stories can be extremely influential,” especially when they pair personal anecdotes with data.

In Mississippi, committee bills can move quickly through the process, according to the report. The AP describes that hearings often feature little discussion by lawmakers and no input from the public, including in cases where a bill phases out the state’s income tax after advancing through committee with little debate during the 2025 legislative session.

Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said committee hearings used to include more debate, amendments, and discussion among subcommittees. Bryan said “Everything now is just perfunctory,” describing the current approach as routine or superficial.

The report also describes differences between the House and Senate in how widely committee deliberations are shared with the public. The Mississippi House of Representatives does not livestream or record its committee meetings, though it does livestream proceedings in the House chamber, while the Mississippi Senate livestreams most of its committee meetings and all of its full chamber proceedings, which the Senate’s spokesperson said is part of Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s transparency commitment.

House Speaker Jason White told Mississippi Today in 2024 that he has no objection to livestreaming committee hearings and said the House Rules Committee would look into the policy. But House Rules Chairman Fred Shanks said in November that there had not been any talk of livestreaming committee meetings, and he said White did not respond to a request for comment.

Advocates say notice and access to agendas are part of the same problem as limited testimony routes. Safia Malin, interim policy director for the Jackson-based civic engagement nonprofit One Voice, said “Simple changes,” such as requiring committees to provide notice of hearings and publish agendas ahead of time, would give constituents more opportunities to participate in the legislative process. The report said the Senate has a website page to publish agendas, but they are not always shared, while the House does not post agendas online and hearings in both chambers sometimes occur at the last minute.

Rep. Jeramey Anderson, D-Escatawpa, has proposed a House rule requiring committees to post agendas 24 hours before meetings for seven years, and the report said none of the proposals have made it out of committee. Anderson said Mississippians should 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 argued that refusing basic notice keeps the public from testifying, stops advocates from participating, and prevents voters from holding officials accountable.

The report also notes that the Legislature is able to meet behind closed doors, and it describes rulings involving the state’s open meetings law. It says the Mississippi Ethics Commission has repeatedly ruled that the Legislature is not covered by the open meetings law and that Hinds County Chancellor Dewayne Thomas affirmed the ruling in February. The report adds that the House Republican Caucus frequently meets behind closed doors before committee meetings, which it says can shield discussion on legislation from the public.

Shanks said he has never had a constituent ask him about speaking at the Capitol, and he said he makes his phone number available for constituents to call him at any time. He said many committee meetings are “pretty quick,” some with last-minute scheduling, and he said it would be “pretty hard to do” to hold public comment at that pace.