House Bill 555 to Limit Attorney General’s Powers

The Mississippi House narrowly rejects a bill to limit the attorney general’s powers, but there will be another debate on the bill and a Republican chairman needs to pick up just a few votes for the bill to pass and move to the Senate.
House Bill 555 would require the attorney general to receive permission from a three-member board before filing any lawsuit that might have at least a $250,000 award. Board members would be the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state.
Currently, that would force the lone Democrat in statewide office to seek permission from Republicans.
Fourth-term Attorney General Jim Hood has sued several corporations and those lawsuits have put tens of millions of dollars into the state budget.
Hood announced the latest award Tuesday, saying Mississippi will receive $26 million from the credit rating agency Moody’s Corp., which settled a multi-state lawsuit that claimed it engaged in deceptive practices.
With Mississippi tax collections lagging in recent years, the awards have helped reduce the impact of state budget cuts.