After the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned IM 65 last week, voters and lawmakers are asking for a special session. The only person who can call for a special session is the governor. Governor Reeves (R) seems to be considering it, but still has some hesitations. 

Concerns

“The people have spoken. They made their voice heard and voted overwhelmingly to have a program and Mississippi should have that,” Governor Reeves said to a local news station. “(A special session) is something we are certainly willing to consider. [However] we are a long way from being able to make that decision.”

Governor Reeves is aware that a medical cannabis program needs to be set up in the state with the overwhelming support of IM 65. It received about 74 percent of the public vote, which is almost unheard of in a general election measure. The issue is how measures are placed on the ballot.

“We have three branches of government, and it is the judicial branch’s job to interpret the law. I don’t know that I would have ruled one way or another, but I respect the court and the roles they play, and so now, it is incumbent on the legislative branch to come back and fix this process,” Governor Reeves explained.

Legislative Issue

In 1990, the legislature passed a measure that would require an equal amount of signatures from each district in the state. That way, a measure wouldn’t be biased towards one district or another. This would usually be seen as a pretty standard measure; one adopted by many states. However, Mississippi wrote the law to state that there shouldn’t be more than ⅕ of signatures from any one of the five districts over another. 

However in 2000, Mississippi went down to four districts. Its overall population fell, so five districts became four to more evenly distribute votes and influence in the state and the US Congress. But the law was never updated. It still says that one district cannot have more than ⅕ of the total signatures collected. With four districts, this becomes mathematically impossible. 

Even though the law is outdated and impossible to meet the Mississippi standards of today, this is how the law is written. And the Supreme Court is upholding the law. 

The concern that Governor Reeves has is that to change the measure that has the ⅕ signature clause, a ⅔ majority of the state legislature would have to agree on a written measure. Then it would need a majority vote of the people. The earliest any measure could be placed on a ballot is next November 2022. Until then, measures must follow the procedure in place. Which means that measures can’t be taken up in the state until the law changes, if the state ever decides to do that. 

Medical Cannabis

But lawmakers aren’t calling for a change in the signature collecting law. They are calling for Mississippi Congress to go into a special session to discuss medical cannabis. Rewriting a measure to introduce a legal medical cannabis program into the state can be done. This has been proved to be effective in a special session. New Mexico earlier this year held a special session to pass a recreational cannabis bill. Mississippi could do the same. But Governor Reeves is hesitant. It is unclear if he will call for a session or not. As more information becomes available, we will update you with the latest.

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