In early April, the Mississippi Legislature opted to end the 2025 session and come back in special session, at greater expense to taxpayers, to pass a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.
It will cost Mississippi taxpayers more for a special session than it would have cost them had legislators just voted to remain in regular session to work on the budget. They could have remained in regular session without actually being in Jackson until an agreement between legislative leaders was reached on a budget. At that point, members could have come back to Jackson to vote on the budget, and the additional expenses would have been nominal.
In special session, legislators receive the same expense reimbursements they receive in regular session. In addition, however, the 175 members (including the lieutenant governor) will receive an additional $75 per day.
It is worth noting that legislators receive $1,500 per month when out of session. If they had voted to remain in regular session, they would not have received the $1,500 for April and the $1,500 for May.
Granted, in a representative democracy, making laws can be messy and disagreements occur that lead to added expenses. Those additional expenses can be the cost of living in this country. After all, Russia does not have to worry about additional expenses for lawmakers because of disagreements with Vladimir Putin.
And this is not intended as an argument that Mississippi legislators receive too much money. After all, they have not received a pay raise since 1997 except for increases in their daily per diem when in session for living expenses. The per diem is tied to the federal rate.
But this is simply to point out that legislators had a choice to make back in April: stay in regular session for less money or come back in for a more costly special session.
Since at this point there is no escaping the added expenses for the Legislature being in special session, there are a few extra steps lawmakers could take to give the taxpayers something more for their money.
First of all, when they come back, they should work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Presumably, legislative leaders have been working behind the scenes to reach a budget accord. So, when the governor calls the special session and legislators return to the Capitol, they should be ready and rearing to go.
Second, pass a responsible budget that takes care of the people of the state and not the special interest of any particular legislator or group of legislators.
And finally — and this is an important one — be transparent. The final passage of the state budget normally occurs in the waning hours of the regular session and in one big blur. Transparency is almost never a focus.
The budget is passed piecemeal in more than 100 individual bills. And while this has not always been the case, in recent years often there has not been a readily available document that provides information so that it can be ascertained whether agencies are receiving more or less funding and how the funding the agencies are receiving is being divvied up.
Many legislators often do not actually know what they are voting on when passing the budget in the fog of the end of the regular session.
Legislative leaders, during their out-of-session negotiations, should have had plenty of time to have staff develop such documents, which used to be provided as part of the normal budgeting process.
It could be argued that legislators like the whirlwind process and the lack of transparency because that is how things like funds for work on golf courses or work on obscure streets are sneaked into budget bills while other major needs are neglected.
But since the Legislature has been able to work behind the scenes on a budget for almost two months now, there is no excuse for the lack of transparency.
After all, taxpayers should be getting something for their money. So come on, legislators, it is time to do the taxpayers a solid.
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