Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday said he will call lawmakers into a special session to adopt a budget before state agencies run out of money later in the summer and hinted he might force legislators to consider other measures. 

Hours after the Senate ended its regular session on Thursday morning, Reeves said in a press conference that he didn’t have a specific date set for a special session, but his office will work with legislative leaders to quickly adopt a budget before the current fiscal year ends on June 30. 

“I am confident that the House and the Senate will be able to work together and get this done,” Reeves said. “In fact, I have been in personal communication with legislative leadership over the last several weeks, and I don’t think they’re really that far apart (on a budget).” 

House and Senate leaders ended their session this week without adopting an entire state budget, primarily because of intraparty Republican bickering. House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann have blamed each other for blowing past the deadline to pass a budget. 

White, a Republican from West, said on social media Thursday that one of the key differences between the House and the Senate on the budget is finding a recurring revenue stream to help reduce the $25 billion unfunded liability for the public employee retirement system. 

“We will continue these discussions with the Senate to produce a budget that reflects our commitment to smaller government with focused spending, while meeting the core functions and responsibilities to the taxpayers of Mississippi,” White said. 

Hosemann on Wednesday night told reporters that Senate leaders will begin working on finalizing a budget as quickly as possible. 

As has been the case with Reeves for past special sessions, he told reporters he would wait until the House and Senate reach at least a handshake agreement before calling them into a special session to pass a budget. 

But Reeves could force the Legislature to address other issues during a special session.

Under the state Constitution, one of few powers a governor has over the Legislature is the sole authority to call it into special session, and to set the “call” or agenda lawmakers can consider in a special session. Lawmakers can refuse to pass items the governor puts on their agenda, but he could hold them in special session indefinitely, and “feed” items to them one at a time until they are passed.

Reeves said he did not have a specific agenda list, but he was considering adding school choice, a parental bill of rights, certificate of need reform and mobile sports betting as potential items for lawmakers to address during the special session. 

“There are a large number of items at this point,” Reeves said. “I will rule nothing out. Y’all know I am reluctant to add things to a special session. I’m reluctant to call special sessions because of the cost associated with them.” 

Each day of a special session can easily cost upwards of $100,000, to pay, feed and house lawmakers and provide staff and security at the Capitol.

The governor said taxpayers and agency leaders should not fear government services shutting down because he’s confident the Legislature can iron out a final budget before the next fiscal year starts July 1. Reeves said that a few agencies are facing deficits for the current budget year and that, while not a crisis at this point, should be addressed “sooner rather than later.”

Rep. Karl Oliver, a Republican from Winona who leads a House Appropriations Committee, told Mississippi Today that most of the House’s proposed budgets levels would fund state agencies near level to this year, with some added funds for public pension contributions and increased insurance costs. 

The House’s total state-funded budget proposal is a little over $7 billion, according to Oliver, which is similar to the budget the Legislature adopted last year. Some Senate leaders have also said they don’t expect any large increases in spending would be approved for the coming budget year.

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