JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
There's new life in a bill aimed to limit the legal power of Mississippi's Attorney General.
A house committee met Monday afternoon to take up House Bill 211, formally 122, which would give state agency and department heads the power to hire outside council to represent them in court when they feel the attorney general wouldn't be the best council and without approval.
The bill passed by a 14 to nine vote.
Attorney General Jim Hood, the lone Democrat in statewide office, says the bill is unconstitutional since it takes away the state's ability to speak with once voice in court and will end up costing the state more money to hire private attorneys.
Meanwhile, Republican agency heads say the bill is more than fair and won't cost anything.
"This, in my opinion, gives the autonomy to the agency heads to the individuals, but still maintains sunshine," said State Auditor Stacey Pickering. "It still maintains accountability. As far as costing the taxpayers any additional money, it's not going to cost them more because you still have to operate within the parameters of your authorized budget as set forth by the legislature."
"It's about partisanship. It's about whether or not the republican lawyers are being hired," Attorney General Hood said. "Our agency lawyers are not republican or democrat. So, it's not a partisan issue for our office out there but obviously for many of the members of the legislature over here. You know, they're feeling their new found power and they're going to use it."
The bill will now make its way to the house floor which is where it got sent back to committee last week.
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