JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – People in Jackson will receive some help with their water bills after House Bill 359 became law on Sunday, without Gov. Tate Reeves’ signature.
The bill failed last year, but this year, lawmakers passed a new version with changes aimed at helping people who owe money on their water bills.
House Bill 359 was authored by Representative Chris Bell, and the City of Jackson Delegation. The initial Jackson-focused bill was filed las year because of inadequacies of a billing system operated by Siemens. It was vetoed by the governor and came back this year with the changes.
“We have an opportunity to settle some of these bad debts that we have, and we can move on with our bonding capacity and be able to fix our infrastructure,” said Bell.
The changes would allow cities with at least 150,000 people to also have some sort of flexibility with managing their water bills and forgiveness.
Jackson is the only city that qualifies due to its population.
