Two important pieces of legislation were kept alive last week,thwarting the efforts of special interest groups determined to killthem for this session.

The first involves election reform. The second involves civiljustice, or tort reform.

In a reversal of a previous decision, the Senate ElectionsCommittee closed a loophole that would allow special interestgroups to hide their efforts to influence state elections. Thecommittee reinserted a requirement that 501c corporations mustreport expenditures for political advertising campaigns. Groupshave enjoyed the ability to run political advertising inMississippi without having to disclose who was really writing thecheck.

It is a welcomed reversal, one that allows the public to knowjust who is trying to influence their vote. The bill faces the fullSenate sometime this week.

In a surprising move on Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committeeagreed to allow a watered down Tort Reform bill see the light ofday instead of dying on the committee desk. The bill has beenpassed out of the House.

The Senate has amended the watered down bill and will bereturning it to the House for a Concurrence vote. The Senateversion allows for caps on non-economic damages, deals with jointand several liability, and provides for a reasonable approach topunitive damage caps. Unfortunately, the bill finds an unfriendlywelcome by many House members with trial lawyer ties.

Monday will be an important day if the public is to get truerelief from lawsuit abuse that continues to plague the statedespite tort reform legislation last year.

Both bills are worthy of strong support and passage by therespective chamber.