House Again Tries to Curb Democratic Attorney General's Powers
JACKSON — The Mississippi attorney general, who is elected, could be subject to oversight from the governor, lieutenant governor and the secretary of state if Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon, gets his way. The move continues a long Republican tradition in Mississippi of trying to limit the State's ability to sue corporations that dates back to the State's role in suing the tobacco industry and could include suits such as the Google lawsuit Attorney General Jim Hood announced this week.
The Rankin County attorney presented House Bill 55 on the floor after it passed through the Judiciary A Committee, which he chairs.
The bill would require Hood, the only statewide-elected Democrat, to seek approval from the Outside Counsel Oversight Commission before he initiates legal actions with a potential price tag of at least $250,000 in attorneys' fees and costs to the state. The commission is made up of three Republicans: Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann.
Baker told the House that the attorney general's office needed the oversight, reading off a part of the list of companies currently involved in litigation with Mississippi.
"I think we've got to add Google to that list," Baker said on Wednesday.
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