Mississippi ban-the-box law: no statute, the bills that died and what applies

Mississippi has no ban-the-box law, for private employers or for state and local government, as of October 2026. The Mississippi Legislature's own bill records show three attempts in the last two sessions, House Bills 34 and 62 in 2025 and House Bill 201 in 2026, and all three would have covered only state agencies; each died in a House committee. We also found no city ordinance on the topic. So in Mississippi the timing of criminal history questions is set by federal law and by the employer's own policy, with one unusual state rule: an employer may ask whether a candidate has had a record expunged, but cannot treat silence about the expunged case as a lie.

Does Mississippi have a ban-the-box law?

No, for any employer. We found no Mississippi statute that removes the criminal history question from job applications or delays it to a later stage, and no governor's executive order on the subject appears in the sources we checked. Our Mississippi background check guide and Mississippi hiring checklist reach the same conclusion. The Legislature has seen the idea repeatedly, which is the clearest evidence of the gap: every recent bill was filed, referred and left to die.

What did the 2025 and 2026 bills propose?

All three were filed by Representative Scott and aimed at public employers only:

• House Bill 34 (2025), the "Ban-the-Box Act," referred to the Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency and the Workforce Development committees on January 10, 2025; died in committee on February 4, 2025.
• House Bill 62 (2025), the "Donald J. Trump Ban-the-Box Act," referred to Judiciary B and Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency; died in committee on February 4, 2025.
• House Bill 201 (2026), the same title, referred on January 7, 2026; died in committee on February 3, 2026.

The text of HB 201 shows what a Mississippi law would have looked like. It defined a public employer as the State of Mississippi and "any office, department, agency, division, bureau, commission, board, institution, hospital, college, university, airport authority or other instrumentality thereof," and it said in so many words that it did not apply to private employers. Under it, a public employer could not ask about criminal history, orally or in writing, until the applicant had signed a release, was being considered for a specific position and had been interviewed. After a lawful check, the state would have weighed the nature and gravity of the offense, the time elapsed, the person's age at the time, whether the offense related to the job, and evidence of rehabilitation. An arrest that did not lead to a conviction could not disqualify anyone, and the applicant would have had a chance to show the report was wrong before a final decision. None of this is law. It is useful only as a picture of where a future bill may go.

Do any Mississippi cities have ban-the-box ordinances?

We did not find one, though we did not survey every city's code. A city government could also have an internal hiring policy that is not in its code. If your client is a city or county, ask whether it uses a criminal history question on its application and when it runs checks, and follow its written policy. For private employers, no Mississippi city rule we found applies.

What Mississippi law does say about criminal records in hiring

The absence of a timing law does not mean the state is silent. Three rules shape how the question is asked and what an employer can do with the answer; the background check guide covers each in depth.

Expunction: you may ask, but silence is not a lie

Miss. Code 99-19-71, last amended by House Bill 1546 in force since July 1, 2026, says an expunction order does not stop an employer from asking whether one has been entered on the candidate's behalf. The same subsection restores the person to the status held before the arrest and says the person cannot be held guilty of perjury or a false statement for not reciting the expunged arrest, indictment or conviction. HB 1546 also shortened the wait to expunge one eligible felony from five years after the sentence to three. An application that asks "Have you ever been convicted?" can therefore draw answers that leave out expunged cases, and the statute says the candidate has not given a false statement by leaving them out.

State records need the candidate's written authorization

Under Miss. Code 45-27-12, as last amended by Senate Bill 2818 (2022), the Criminal Information Center releases conviction and arrest information to an employer authorized by the subject in writing, and the employer may not pass it on. A ban-the-box law would control when you ask; this rule controls how you get the record and who may see it.

Licensing, not hiring: the Fresh Start Act

The Fresh Start Act of 2019 limits how occupational licensing boards use criminal records. It does not govern private employers' hiring decisions, but it matters when a candidate's offer depends on a state license, because the board's review is a separate step from yours.

What federal rules apply in Mississippi?

• Title VII. Employers with 15 or more employees are covered (42 U.S.C. 2000e), and a criminal record exclusion that falls more heavily on a protected group can be challenged under the disparate impact provision, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(k). Courts decide those claims.
• The EEOC's 2012 guidance is gone. The EEOC voted on October 28, 2026 to rescind its arrest and conviction records guidance, effective immediately. Its press release says Title VII still prohibits race and national origin discrimination, including requirements that are proxies for intentional discrimination. A documented, job-related review using the Green factors from the 1975 Eighth Circuit case (the nature and gravity of the offense, the time since it, and the nature of the job) is still the safe practice.
• The Fair Chance Act. Federal contractors may not request criminal history for a position related to work under the contract before a conditional offer, with exceptions such as jobs needing access to classified information (41 U.S.C. 4714). Federal agencies follow 5 CFR part 920.
• The FCRA. A report from a screening company needs a stand-alone disclosure and written authorization first, and a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report before a rejection, per the FTC's guide for employers.

What should recruiters and staffing agencies do in Mississippi?

1. Ask the client its policy at intake. With no state rule, the client's written policy is the rule. Record when it considers criminal history and who reviews results against the job.
2. Check for federal contract work. If the role supports a federal contract, the Fair Chance Act keeps the question out of everything before the conditional offer.
3. Fix the expunction wording. If an application asks about convictions, say that expunged records need not be listed, or ask only the expunction question the statute allows, and decide in advance how an answer will be weighed.
4. Keep the topic off your screen. A recruiter rarely has what is needed to weigh a record, and notes taken early can make a later rejection look record-driven. See what not to write in interview notes.
5. Run required checks in order. School substitute firms and health care staffing agencies have their own fingerprint duties, listed in the background check guide, and the FCRA notices apply every time (FCRA background check process).
6. Watch the 2027 session. The same bill has been filed three times; if it returns and passes, it would bind state agencies and any agency recruiting for them.

A screening script. If a candidate volunteers a conviction: "Thanks for telling me. That isn't part of my screen and I won't note it. If the employer looks at background, it's a separate step later, and you'd see anything they rely on." If a client asks whether it can keep "no felons" in an ad: "Mississippi law doesn't stop you, but a blanket exclusion is the kind of rule that draws Title VII challenges. Can we tie it to the duties of this job instead?"

Mississippi ban-the-box rules at a glance

For states that do regulate timing, and for scripts that work in all of them, see ban-the-box laws and interview questions. Other Mississippi rules for the same hire: drug testing, E-Verify, staffing agency licensing and recording interviews.