HB 1629 Mississippi House · 2026 Regular Session

Exotic animals; enhance penalties for killing or capturing after unlawful entry into a commercial wildlife enclosure.

HB 1629 makes it illegal for anyone to knowingly enter a commercial wildlife enclosure or shooting preserve without permission and then kill, injure, or capture exotic livestock. The bill directly affects trespassers who harm animals and provides enhanced legal recourse for facility owners. Key provisions include fines up to $500 or six months in jail for trespassing, additional Class I violation penalties for harming animals, mandatory restitution payments to owners for animal loss (based on replacement value), and civil liability for property damage caused during entry. The bill also defines "commercial wildlife enclosure" as facilities meeting specific size and habitat requirements, and "exotic livestock" as non-native herbivores like deer, antelope, or exotic ruminants raised for meat, sport, or exhibition.

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 19, 2026 Last action Feb 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill primarily reorganizes and renumbers the Mississippi Code sections related to exotic livestock protection and wildlife enclosures. The substantive policy content remains largely the same, but the text has been reformatted from a standard legislative format to a committee substitute format with line numbers and page breaks. Key substantive provisions about penalties for entering shooting preserves and definitions of exotic livestock appear unchanged.

TECHNICAL

The bill format changed from 'As Introduced' version to 'Committee Substitute' version with added line numbers, page breaks, and official formatting markers. This is a procedural change rather than a substantive policy change.

Header information was updated to reflect committee substitute status with bill tracking numbers (HR26/R697CS.1) and page references (MCL\KW), which are administrative formatting additions.

Removed redundant header lines that appeared in the original 'As Introduced' version, including duplicate session information and byline formatting.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass Comm Sub

lower

Jan 19, 2026

Committee

Referred To Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors