SENATOR BRICE WIGGINS • R-DIST. 52 (Jackson Co.)
Senator Brice Wiggins has represented District 52 (south Jackson County, including the cities of Pascagoula, Gautier, and Ocean Springs) since 2012. During this time, Brice has established himself as a leader in the Mississippi Senate currently serving as Chairman of Judiciary A, one of the legislature’s leading committees with jurisdiction over many different areas of the law. Brice served the 2020 year as Chairman of Judiciary B (criminal and criminal justice reform legislation) having been appointed by then new-Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann at the start of his third term in 2020. Brice previously served in his second term as Chairman of the first-ever Senate Medicaid Committee and Chairman of Ports and Marine Resources in his first term, a rare occurrence for a freshman legislator, both under Lt. Governor, now Governor, Tate Reeves.
In his time in the Senate, Brice has established himself in areas of education, government transparency, criminal justice reform, criminal prosecution issues, and appropriations. Brice authored Mississippi's first foray into early education, the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013. This legislation has led directly to Mississippi being recognized as Top 5 in the country in early education and is part of Mississippi's continual education reform successes that have garnered national recognition.
In the area of criminal prosecution, Brice authored and passed the Lonnie Smith Act which strengthened Mississippi’s child abuse laws and working with DNA Saves, Katie's Law, allowing for the collection of DNA after arrest on violent felonies. Further addressing the criminal system, Brice, a former Assistant District Attorney, handled HB585 in 2013 the Criminal Justice Reform Act which clarified and strengthened laws against violent offenders and provided a beginning for the reform of the criminal justice system. In his first term, as Chairman of Ports and Marine Resources, Brice authored and passed into law the Department of Marine Resources Accountability and Transparency Act in the wake of indictments of key DMR officials. Focusing on his native area, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, in the wake of the BP Oil Spill Brice has worked diligently to ensure federal and state dollars remain on the Gulf Coast highlighted by being a lead Senate negotiator on the law creating the Gulf Coast Restoration Fund to direct hundreds of millions of dollars to the Gulf Coast.
In his “other job,” Brice has his own law practice, Wiggins Law, PLLC, which he founded in 2011 and handles all manner of courtroom litigation, family law, wills, estates, trusts, corporate law, trucking litigation, criminal matters, and municipal court matters. Previous to serving in the Senate, Brice prosecuted as an Assistant District Attorney for the 19th Judicial Court District (Jackson, George, Greene Counties) and as Youth Court Prosecutor in Jackson County.