First steps are important, but we are going to need a bigger stride if we’re really going to get somewhere. The Mississippi Legislature recently passed legislation that changes some aspects of state law regarding expungements, re-entry access, and applications for professional licensure for individuals with criminal records. House Bill 1352 expands “intervention courts,” prevents some instances of driver’s license suspensions, expands the list of crimes that can be expunged off of a person’s criminal record and extends SNAP and TANF programs to people convicted of drug-related felonies. An older version of the bill included a section that eliminated jail time and bail for non-violent misdemeanor charges/convictions and this would have drastically reduced the number of people languishing in jail awaiting trial or bail.
Senate Bill 2781 or the “Fresh Start Act of 2019” mandates that no person shall be disqualified from pursuing or practicing any occupation for which a license is required solely based on a prior conviction unless the conviction directly relates to the duties and responsibilities of the licensed occupation. This new law creates a refreshing and much needed opportunity for those who have a conviction on their record but wish to earn a barber or cosmetology license, nursing license, insurance license, or some other professional license.
In my opinion, both of these bills represent good bi-partisan efforts but fall far from what’s needed to end mass incarceration in Mississippi. Our partners at fwd.us assert that this bill has only a limited impact for low income Mississippians who do not have funds to pay for legal fines and fees required to be paid before a criminal record can be cleared. Access to professional licenses may help, but licensing boards are still allowed to consider the conviction in their decisions.
Furthermore, the legislature refuses to end the law that takes voting rights away from people with certain felony convictions. They also refuse to document a process for having those rights restored.
That said, I still applaud those lawmakers who continue to champion these issues even when such important bills rarely make it out of committee. In the meantime, please wake me up when the full legislature is ready to deal with these issues in a comprehensive way. Until then, I’m hitting snooze.