One of the two antievolution bills introduced in the Mississippi legislature in 2005 died in committee, but the other passed through the Senate and is now under consideration by the House of Representatives. House Bill 953, which would have authorized "the teaching of 'creationism' or 'intelligent design' in the public schools" and moreover required it "[i]f the school's curriculum requires the teaching of evolution," is listed on the legislature's website as having died in committee on January 31, 2006.
Senate Bill 2427, however, is still alive. If enacted, the bill would ensure that "[n]o local school board, school superintendent or school principal shall prohibit a public school classroom teacher from discussing and answering questions from individual students on the issue of flaws or problems which may exist in Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution and the existence of other theories of evolution, including, but not limited to, the Intelligent Design explanation of the origin of life."
SB 2427 was introduced in the Senate on January 10, 2006, and referred to the Committee on Education, which passed it on January 31. The Senate passed the bill on February 6, and it was then transmitted to the House of Representatives, where it was referred to the Committee on Education. During its stay in the Senate, it acquired ten further sponsors: Senators Terry W. Brown, Terry C. Burton, Videt Carmichael, Eugenie S. Clark, Doug Davis, Merle Flowers, Gary Jackson, Tom King, Stacey Pickering, and Richard White.