NATCHEZ &045; Bills that would have allowed Natchez Regional Medical Center to opt out of the Public Employee Retirement System were among several area-related bills to die in committee Tuesday.

&uot;I think there were so many unanswered questions,&uot; said Sen. Bob Dearing, D-Natchez, referring to House Bill 1106 and Senate Bill 2842. &uot;And I believe the fact that not all of our local delegation were out in front supporting it had something to do with (the death of the bills).&uot;

The hospital’s Board of Trustees pursued opting out of PERS as a cost-saving measure. The hospital now pays 9.75 percent into the system &045; $1.5 million a year &045; for each of its 383 enrolled employees, but that will rise to 10.75 in July and possibly 11.75 percent next year.

Natchez Regional Administrator Jack Houghton could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Other area-related bills that died Tuesday included ones to do away with the three-day marriage waiting period, toughen penalties for animal cruelty and establish a regional prison and a long-term health care facility in the area.

Tourism stakeholders in Natchez were solidly behind House Bill 886, which would have eliminated the three-day waiting period between the issuing of a marriage license and the wedding itself.

The bill would have also allowed the state to recognize the results of blood tests done by any certified lab. As it now stands, a person wanting to marry in Mississippi must have a blood test done here.

The changes, proponents said would make it more convenient for couples to marry in the area on a three-day weekend. The Convention and Visitors Bureau and wedding-related businesses are working to market Natchez as a wedding destination.

Dearing was among lawmakers sponsoring bills to toughen the state’s animal cruelty laws, lobbying for cats to be included among the law’s protected animals.

Annette Byrne of Natchez brought the issue to Dearing’s attention and lobbied actively for that and other animal cruelty bills. Byrne said that last year’s lobbying wasn’t a park in the park, either.

&uot;I wrote every senator and every (representative) on the committee, but they didn’t even bring it up for consideration,&uot; Byrne said.

To Byrne’s stories of local cats being thrown in boiling oil or fed ground-up glass, Debra Boswell adds tales from around the state &045; cats and dogs being cut open or impaled.

&uot;It’s our position that a $100 fine and a slap on the wrist isn’t appropriate&uot; for such crimes, said Boswell, who directs the Mississippi Animal Rescue League in Jackson.

As it now stands 41 states, including Louisiana, have felony animal cruelty laws. S.B. 2135, one of the toughest of nine animal cruelty bills that all died in committee, would have provided for two categories of the crime:

4Simple animal cruelty, or neglect, with the third offense being a felony.

4The felony of aggravated animal cruelty, or intentionally torturing or injuring an animal. Felonies would be punishable by a $1,000 fine, one to six months in jail, or both.

However, S.B. 3020, which asks for up to $1 million in bond proceeds for renovations to the 100-year-old Historic Natchez Foundation’s building, is still alive.

Foundation officials have said that due to the lack of a general museum of Natchez history, former and current residents are donating artifacts of the town’s past to other institutions, some outside the area.

In addition to establishing a museum in the building, funds would also be used to build a climate-controlled document storage facility there.