SB 2833 Mississippi Senate · 2025 Regular Session

PEER; enact provisions for enforcement of subpoenas from.

SB 2833 establishes new enforcement mechanisms for subpoenas issued by Mississippi's Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER). It creates a civil enforcement process allowing the PEER Committee to seek court orders compelling witnesses to comply with subpoenas, with failure to comply treated as contempt of court. The bill also adds criminal penalties (fines up to $1,000 or jail time up to 6 months) for non-compliance, while exempting PEER subpoenas from standard legislative subpoena rules that apply to other committees. This directly affects witnesses subpoenaed by PEER and clarifies the committee’s authority to enforce its requests through courts or the Attorney General’s office.

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 6, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill updates Mississippi law to allow the PEER Committee to enforce subpoenas through civil court actions and clarifies criminal penalties for non-compliance. It also ensures that PEER Committee subpoenas are exempt from legislative immunity protections and designates the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms to serve these subpoenas.

Scope change

The bill expands enforcement mechanisms for the PEER Committee by adding civil court enforcement options and clarifying that PEER subpoenas are exempt from legislative immunity provisions.

ENFORCEMENT

Added new Section 5-3-70 allowing the PEER Committee to file civil complaints in chancery court for witnesses who fail to comply with subpoenas, with penalties for contempt of court.

Modified Section 5-3-59 to clarify that willful refusal to comply with PEER Committee subpoenas constitutes contempt punishable by fines up to $1,000 or up to 6 months in county jail.

ELIGIBILITY

Modified Section 5-1-23 and 5-1-25 to explicitly exempt PEER Committee subpoenas from legislative immunity protections that normally prevent witnesses from being prosecuted for testimony given to the legislature.

REQUIREMENT

Added provision in Section 5-1-35 requiring the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms to serve subpoenas issued by the PEER Committee.

TECHNICAL

Changed formatting and organization of the bill text from 'As Introduced' version to 'As Passed the Senate' version with updated page headers and line numbering.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 5, 2025

How they voted

51–0

Passed

Total votes 51

Feb 5, 2025

D Democratic16

16 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican35

35 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

Referred To Judiciary B

lower

Feb 6, 2025

Introduced

Transmitted To House

upper

Feb 5, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed

upper

Jan 28, 2025

Upper · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass

upper

Jan 20, 2025

Committee

Referred To Judiciary, Division B

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor