|
|
Senate Bill 2084
Municipal Officer’s Due Process Bill Dies on House Calendar
The credit for this bill not becoming law in the 2006
legislative session can be given dominantly to
Representative Mark Baker of Rankin County. This bill was
introduced in the Senate by Senator Gray Tollison of Oxford,
Ms at the request of PBA.
Law enforcement officers across this state, especially those
in Rankin County have a right to know how all of this came
about and why this legislation did not pass. Legal or not,
it is a classic example of “POLITICS AS USUAL”, not
democracy. It is nothing less than shameful when an state
representative uses the House rules to kill legislation
which has already passed by an over whelming majority vote
of his own colleagues. It is also a typical example of the
abuse of power which creates the need for this legislation
in the first place. I can and do respect Representative
Baker’s opinion and personal vote on the due process issue,
but I do not respect his tactics.
Senate bill 2084 passed the Senate, with unanimous vote. It
was then sent to the House for consideration and assigned to
the House Municipalities Committee. It was amended by the
committee and recommended for passage by the House. The most
significant change made by the House committee amendment was
to allow municipalities to placed officers on leave with or
without pay until disposition of the hearing. Since cities
without civil service that choose to do this are already
doing so, the bill was still worthy of our support.
When the bill was called to a vote of all members of the
House of Representatives it passed by a vote of 113 yea to 6
nay. After the vote, one of the six representatives voting
against the bill, Representative Mark Baker filed a
motion to reconsider. His motion caused the bill to be
placed back on the House calendar for reconsideration. When
the bill was not called for reconsideration before the House
deadline, the bill died making Representative Baker’s
actions to stop its passage successful.
It is worthy of remembrance that Senate bill 2084 passed the
Senate by a unanimous vote of the 51 Senators present. Of
the 119 House members present and voting on this bill only 6
voted against it. So of the total 170 members of the
Mississippi Legislature voting on this bill, the following 6
were the only ones who voted against it.
Representative Mark Baker District 74 Rankin and Madison
Counties
Representative John Moore District 60 Rankin and Simpson
Counties
Representative John Reeves District 71 Rankin and Hinds
Counties
Representative Mark Formby District 108 Pearl River County
Representative Jeffery Smith District 39 Lowndes County
Representative Clayton Smith District 59 Rankin County
The amended version of the bill would have mandated
municipalities to adopt policies which provide these basic
due process procedures for law enforcement officers in
administrative actions involving suspension without pay or
termination. Procedures required by the bill were;
-
The officer be notified in writing of a
proposed suspension without pay or
termination, the reason for such action and
their right to appeal such action within 5
days.
-
Upon filing appeal, be provided a fair and
impartial hearing.
-
Have a right to be represented by legal
counsel at his/her own expense.
-
Have a right to question witnesses who
testify against them.
|