A bill to name a multimillion-dollar volunteer service campus for late Sen. Grey Ferris was approved by the House this morning.

Co-authored by Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, the bill names for the former All Saints’ Episcopal School on Confederate Avenue. It emerged from committee Wednesday. Ferris, who died in June, was a founder of the consolidated Vicksburg Warren School District and former chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

AmeriCorps plans to lease 75 percent of the vacated former boarding school for a campus tentatively set to begin operations by July. About $2.5 million in federal funding has been set aside for the center.

In other action Wednesday, legislation to create a committee to coordinate events in Mississippi during the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War was one of more than a dozen bills with local interest or local sponsorship that appeared headed to passage.

Bills that died because they were not reported out of committee include proposals to fast-track the four-laning of U.S. 61 North in Port Gibson, strengthen penalties for crystal meth-related drug offenses and allow the state to take over revision of voter registration books if they don’t align with population counts.

The Mississippi Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission would prioritize activities for events planned in the state from the Missisisppi Development Authority’s tourism division. The Senate version of the bill emerged Wednesday from the Tourism Committee. If approved by Gov. Haley Barbour, Mississippi would be the final state involved with the Civil War to form a planning commission. Most events will take place in 2011 and culminate in 2013, the 150th anniversary of Vicksburg’s surrender.

Other bills supported by Vicksburg’s delegation that appear headed to passage are House Bill 1171, to name a portion of Missisisppi 465 after Vicksburg attorney William Ramsey, who died in 2003. It is co-sponsored by Flaggs and Rep. Alex Monsour, R-Vicksburg, and House Bill 972, which would classify offenses involving coin-operated vending machines as malicious mischief. Monsour is the principal author.

Bills that died in committee also included measures requested by Vicksburg city officials to rewrite laws concerning civil service employees and commercial property operating under resort status.

Local and private legislation to fund local charitable organizations has not been filed this year, a departure from recent years where state approval has released hundreds of thousands to nonprofits in Vicksburg and Warren County. Local and private bills are not subject to committee deadlines.

The 90-day legislative session began Jan. 6.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.