Bill Text: MS HB1229 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Harassment of first responder; make a crime.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-20 - Referred To Judiciary B [HB1229 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-HB1229-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representatives Grady, Aguirre, Burch, Felsher, Hall, Hawkins, Lott, McMillan
House Bill 1229
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON, AFTER BEING WARNED, TO HARASS A FIRST RESPONDER; TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the meanings described herein:
(a) "First responder" means and includes a law enforcement officer, correctional probation officer, firefighter, and an emergency medical care provider.
(b) "Harass" means to willfully engage in a course of conduct directed at a first responder which intentionally causes substantial emotional distress in that first responder and serves no legitimate purpose.
(2) (a) It is unlawful for a person, after receiving a verbal warning not to approach from a person he or she knows or reasonably should know is a first responder, who is engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty, to knowingly and willfully violate such warning and approach or remain within
twenty-five (25) feet of the first responder with the intent to:
(i) Impede or interfere with the first responder's ability to perform such duty;
(ii) Threaten the first responder with physical harm; or
(iii) Harass the first responder.
(b) A person who violates this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), imprisoned in the county jail for no more than six (6) months, or both.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
