Gov. Tate Reeves announced on Tuesday that he will call lawmakers into a special session beginning on Wednesday to adopt a $7 billion state budget for the coming budget year that starts July 1.
Reeves, a Republican, said he and legislative leaders agreed to a budget that keeps most government agencies level-funded, with only small increases for employee insurance costs and pension contributions and “staying true to our conservative principles.” This will leave the state well over $1 billion in untapped cash, which Reeves and some legislative leaders is a good idea given uncertainty on federal spending.
“Since it became apparent that a budget would not be passed during this year’s regular session, I’ve been clear that we should prioritize funding core government functions and keeping spending under control,” Reeves said.
Mississippi lawmakers must return for a special session because they adjourned their 2025 regular session earlier this year without passing a budget. Lawmakers were mired in political infighting over tax cuts and increases and capital projects, including many pet projects lawmakers wanted for their districts.
Legislative leaders, after the regular session ended, continued to bicker over spending on projects for weeks, pushing the special session closer to the end of the fiscal year. In order to have the Legislature quickly pass a budget and hopefully avoid prolonged argument, Reeves said legislators wouldn’t consider special projects or other major issues during the special session.
The state constitution gives the governor, not the Legislature, the sole power to call a special session and set its agenda. He had to call them back into session before June 30 to prevent much of state government from shutting down.
The governor said he hopes legislators can quickly pass the budget, but Democratic leaders have criticized the rushed nature of setting a budget in recent years and said they have not received advanced copies of the bills that direct the spending.
Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, and House Minority Leader Robert Johnson III, a Democrat from Natchez, in a joint statement criticized the rushed nature of the special session and urged legislative leadership to provide members sufficient time to vet the 100-plus budget bills.
“Withholding finalized legislation from duly elected lawmakers jeopardizes the integrity of the legislative process and erodes public trust,” the two leaders said.
For years, rank-and-file lawmakers have complained that they often don’t have time to read the lengthy budget bills because of the rushed nature of Saturday-night budget negotiations in regular session. This hurry-up has also caused lawmakers and staff attorneys in previous years to make mistakes in legislation.
The governor said he believes lawmakers will have sufficient time to review the budget. He also dismissed the Democratic leaders’ concerns about the schedule, saying he doubts they read every bill during the regular session.
Last year, lawmakers passed a little over $7.05 billion state budget. Reeves said lawmakers will likely provide around $100 million more in deficit spending for the current fiscal year, putting the total spending for the current fiscal year around $7.15 billion.
If lawmakers follow through with the agreement legislative leaders reached with Reeves, the governor said the budget for the next fiscal year will be roughly $7.135 billion.
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