Crucial BP settlement bill passes

The Mississippi Senate has passed a crucial BP settlement funding bill by a vote of 51-0.
The passage of House Bill 1185 by the full Senate marks an important milestone in the legislative process. Both chambers of the legislature will take up the matter in conference committees later this month.
Lawmakers will attempt to settle the questions of where and how the BP settlement money will be spent. The original bill has been amended to create a fund called the Gulf Coast Restoration Reserve Fund in the state treasury with one hundred percent of the BP economic damage settlement from the 2010 oil spill going into this fund.
This is the farthest BP legislation has gone in the state legislature.