Talk:Chris McDaniel/Legislative work

LEGISLATIVE WORK

Constitutional Rights: Chris wrote the “Mississippi Student Religious Liberties Act of 2013” that protects students’ right to express religious belief individually and separately from public school endorsement. The bill requires a disclaimer to be provided at graduation ceremonies and other situations that allows students to engage in religious free speech. This legislation was signed into law.

National Security: Chris authored a bill that makes terrorism a crime punishable by death in a state court. The legislation adds an aggravated factor that makes it easier to impose the death penalty in state courts in cases of terrorism. This legislation was signed into law.

Immigration: Chris wrote and introduced the Employment Protection Act in 2008. Also known as the E-Verify law, it requires all Mississippi companies to use an Internet-based system to check the legal status of potential employees. This legislation was signed into law. Chris also introduced a number of other pieces of legislation relating to immigration, including bills to prohibit federal and state benefits to undocumented workers, to prohibit the creation of sanctuary cities in Mississippi and to require undocumented aliens to pay out-of-state tuition at state schools.

Obamacare: Chris led the challenge against Obamacare as lead council in a suit against the federal government for imposing taxes on people who don’t have health insurance. Although the Supreme Court declared Obamacare constitutional, Chris has continued his fight to defeat Obamacare. He vocally opposed and voted against legislation aimed at implementing Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in Mississippi.

Abortion: Chris has authored many pieces of legislation protecting the unborn, including Personhood that grants all human beings equal rights in the state and protection under the law, regardless of their size, location or developmental stage.

Protecting Small Businesses: Chris sponsored legislation designed to give owners of small businesses more say about state regulations that could affect their livelihoods. The bill established a 12-member Small Business Regulatory Review Committee that would examine state rules and laws that could impact businesses with fewer than 100 full-time employees and less than $10 million in gross annual sales or revenues. The bill passed and was signed into law in 2012.

Gun Rights: Chris has been a vocal proponent of Second Amendment rights in Mississippi. He sponsored legislation to require Mississippi to honor any valid concealed carry permit issued by another state, and to confer enhanced carry benefits to members of the military. This bill, which was passed and signed into law, also grants the Department of Public Safety continued authority to enter into written reciprocity agreements with other states if those states require such an agreement before recognizing Mississippi carry permits.

Education: Chris authored the “Mississippi Opportunity Scholarship and Educational Improvement Tax Credit Act of 2012” to provide scholarships to low- and middle-income students in low performing districts to pay tuition at a different public school or private school. It also would allow parents sending their children to private school to get a state income tax credit for the private school tuition. Chris has also fought fight against Common Core, arguing that local communities and teachers should decide how best to educate our children. He co-sponsored legislation to halt implementation of Common Core.

Protecting Taxpayers: Chris introduced legislation that would require recipients of public assistance to be subject to random drug and nicotine testing. Chris gave back portions of his salary to the state’s general fund. After finding the state would not allow him to opt out of a special legislative retirement program (SLURP), he twice introduced legislation to repeal the special perk.

Chris was one of only two state senators to vote against a $196 million borrowing bill that included millions of dollars for projects, including a Grammy museum in Cleveland, the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, and $1 million for a museum to house the country music collection of singer Marty Stuart in Philadelphia.

Fighting for Constituents: Chris authored Nathan’s Law which honors five-year-old Nathan Key of Jones County who was killed in 2009 when he was struck by a vehicle that passed his stopped school bus. The law permits felony charges against anyone who passes a stopped school bus and harms or kills a child and allows for misdemeanor charges against motorists who get too close to parked buses. The law requires motorists to stay at least 10 feet from a stopped school bus with fines up to $750 for a first offense. On a second offense, violators face a fine and up to a year in prison. Nathan’s Law was passed and signed into law.

Chris also authored Karen’s Law in honor of a Jones County teenager who was kidnapped, raped and killed in 1987. The killer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received the maximum prison sentence allowed of 20 years. Chris authored Karen’s Law to increase the sentence for manslaughter to a maximum of 30 years for any adult who kills a minor. The bill was passed and signed into law in 2013.

Chris has worked through legislation to protect Mississippi’s children and mentally disabled from sexual predators. He authored a bill to increase penalties on sexual abusers of children and the mentally disabled. Chris also introduced legislation that raises the penalty for filing a false police report and mandates that crime victims are entitled to a free copy of initial police incident reports.The bill was signed into law in 2012.

Private Property Rights: As a first-term senator in 2010, Chris led the fight to protect private property rights when he took on then-Gov. Haley Barbour, a fellow Republican, and urged his fellow state senators to override Gov. Barbour’s veto of eminent domain legislation that would prevent government from taking private land for use by private companies. The override effort failed by two votes, but began a grassroots ballot initiative to amend the Mississippi Constitution. The ballot initiative passed the following year.

Voter ID Legislation: As Chairman of the Elections Committee in the Mississippi Senate, Chris helped defeat a voter ID bill that would have given felons the right to vote and instituted early voting. Chris pushed for a voter ID bill without these allowances that led to a statewide referendum that was approved by voters.