Mississippi Senate fails to override Governor’s veto

Mississippi Senators voted Thursday to uphold Gov. Barbour’s veto of HB 803. Although 28 Senators voted in favor of overriding the veto, 22 Senators voted to sustain the veto and the required two-thirds majority vote for an override was not met. This is a dramatically different result than the unanimous vote just a few weeks ago in favor of HB 803 .

Gov. Barbour has argued that the limitations on the power of eminent domain that would be the result of the passage of HB 803 would negatively affect economic development in Mississippi and prevent future job growth. After the House voted earlier in the week to override his veto, Gov. Barbour spent time lobbying Senators to change their vote.

However, the battle for property rights is not yet over in Mississippi. After the Senate vote, Senator Fillingane advanced a similar eminent domain bill (SB 2230) that had he felt would address some of the concerns expressed by the Governor and urged his fellow senators to negotiate on the surviving bill.

More details about the Senate vote are available at the Clarion Ledger.

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