Lieutenant governor says redistricting hearings nearly complete

TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) – Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said the public hearings on redistricting in Mississippi are almost over.

Hosemann was the guest speaker at the Tupelo Kiwanis Club meeting Friday afternoon.

He said the state has held five redistricting hearings so far, adding there will be two more: one on the Gulf Coast and the final public hearing in Jackson on Oct. 1.

When asked about the overall consensus of the redistricting hearings so far and the next steps in the process, Hosemann said a joint committee will convene next.

“I don’t know that we’ve had a consensus yet,” Hosemann said. “What will happen next is that we will have a joint committee come together, which will be the Senate and the House. And the joint committee will set up the guidelines. We will follow the constitutional guidelines from the federal Supreme Court case. We will follow the guidelines, which means that they are connected geographically, economically, those kinds of things. So we’ll follow that, and we’ll adopt that sometime in October. And we’ll go about the business of redistricting.”

Hosemann also cited the recent announcement of 400 jobs coming to Copiah County.