BROOKHAVEN — A bill authored by Lincoln County Rep. Becky Currie sits in a senate committee after the house voted to pass the bill in February. If passed, House Bill 80 would create the Zeb Hughes Law. 

Zeb Hughes is one of two local duck hunters who went missing on the Mississippi River near Vicksburg on December 3, 2020. Hughes was from Wesson and the other missing hunter is Gunner Palmer of Hazlehurst. They had set out to scout for ducks on the Mississippi River but never made it back home. Their boat and some hunting equipment was found in the search efforts after their disappearance. 

House Bill 80, would create a presumption of death for a missing person who had undergone a catastrophic event causing imminent peril. This bill would allow Mississippi’s Registrar of Vital Statistics to prepare death certificates under such conditions as the Zeb Hughes Law describes through a court order. 

Mississippi’s House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to support the bill with 121 yes votes. The bill is currently in the Judiciary B Senate Committee. The senate committee can let the bill die in committee, vote the bill is sufficient or add an amendment or committee substitute to the bill. 

If the bill survives the senate committee it would be added to the calendar and voted upon by the senate.