The 2025 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature appeared to come to a halt on Saturday, after the over 100 bills that make up the state’s $7 billion annual budget died in a standoff between the House and Senate — primarily over whether to work over the weekend.
To revive the budget bills and end this year’s legislative session roughly on time, the House and Senate would have to agree to a parliamentary extension of deadlines and the session, or Gov. Tate Reeves would have to force them into special session sometime before the new budget year starts July 1. Numerous senators, on both sides of the aisle, on Saturday vowed they wouldn’t vote for extending the session.
That would appear to leave one option, have Gov. Tate Reeves force lawmakers into special session sometime between now and the end of the state’s fiscal year June 30th.
Besides costing taxpayers easily $100,000 a day to pay, feed and house lawmakers, staff the Capitol and legislative services offices and other expenses, a special session also gives the constitutionally weak governor a little more control over legislation, in that he can control what items are on the agenda.
Although they’re all Republicans, House and Senate leaders — including Hosemann and Speaker Jason White — have politically clashed for the last two years and had trouble agreeing on major issues.
This latest standoff was whether to meet over what was scheduled to be “conference weekend,” the deadline to reach agreement on at least the broad strokes of the budget. For the last two years, House Speaker Jason White has said he wants to start negotiating on the budget earlier and not be crunching numbers and haggling late on the Saturday night deadline.
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, which has also caused lawmakers and staff attorneys in previous years to make mistakes in legislation.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Senate leaders on Saturday blasted House leaders for not working over the weekend, and many senators vowed not to agree to vote to suspend rules and extend the session, which would require a two-thirds majority vote of each chamber.
Quote of the Week
“In Mississippi over the last 24 hours some liberal activists (mostly the ones that masquerade as journalists) are making claims of errors, omissions, mistakes, and changes that need to be made to HB1 – the bill that eliminates the income tax!” — Gov. Tate Reeves, on social media, before Republican legislative leaders admitted publicly they passed a bill full of errors, omissions, mistakes and changes and said they might negotiate ways to fix it. The bill, largely because of the snafu, lacks safeguards both House and Senate leaders said were needed to protect the state economy, such as growth “triggers” for income tax phase out and an offsetting increase in sales taxes.
In Brief
Legislative special election runoffs set for April
Runoffs will be held April 22 for special state House elections in Districts 23 and 82 after voters narrowed the fields last week.
Perry Bailey and Colby Bollinger will face off in a runoff for the District 23 seat to represent parts of Calhoun, Lafayette, Pontotoc and Webster Counties, replacing Rep. Andy Stepp, who died late last year. Bailey formerly held the seat but lost reelection to Stepp in 2023.
For District 82, serving the Meridian area of Lauderdale County, Gregory Elliott will face Joseph Norwood in a runoff to replace Rep. Charles Young, who also died late last year. – Geoff Pender
Prenatal care for poor women is now law, again
A bill to help poor women access prenatal care became law Monday – without the governor’s signature.
Last year’s legislation never went into effect because of administrative hiccups. Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, re-worked the bill this year to match federal guidelines so the program can take effect.
Presumptive eligibility for pregnant women allows low-income women who become newly eligible for Medicaid once pregnant to receive immediate coverage as soon as they find out they’re pregnant – even if their Medicaid application is still pending. The program is especially effective in states that have not expanded Medicaid, like Mississippi.
The policy will go into effect immediately. However, not all providers will participate and those who wish to will need to apply for the program through the Mississippi Division of Medicaid.
Mississippi Today will continue to monitor providers participating in the program.
Expectant mothers will be eligible if they make below 194% of the federal poverty level. That’s about $29,000 annually for an individual, or $50,000 annually for a family of three.
Requests to Gov. Tate Reeves’ office for comment on why he chose not to sign the bill were not returned.
When the governor receives a bill, he has five days to either sign it into law, let it pass into law without signing it, or kill it. Letting a bill pass into law without signing it is a way for the governor to allow a policy that has overwhelming support from lawmakers to become law without endorsing it himself. – Sophia Paffenroth
Governor signs paid family leave into law
A bill to give six weeks of paid family leave to state employees became law Tuesday with the governor’s approval.
House Bill 1063 will apply to state employees who adopt or give birth to a child and are the primary caregiver for that child. It applies to employees working for state government agencies but does not include public school teachers.
Rep. Kevin Felsher, R-Biloxi, author of the bill, said he would consider expanding provisions in the future to possibly include public school teachers and/or secondary caregivers.
The legislation passed the House unanimously and the Senate overwhelmingly.
It will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. – Sophia Paffenroth
Federal judges will hold legislative redistricting hearing
A federal three-judge panel will hold a hearing on April 8 to determine if the Mississippi Legislature’s proposal to redraw some of its legislative districts is sufficient to give Black voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice.
The court previously determined that lawmakers diluted Black voting strength when they originally redrew districts in 2022 to account for population shifts.
The Legislature created a new House map with a majority-Black district in the Chickasaw County area and a new Senate map with two new majority-Black districts, one in the DeSoto County area and one in the Hattiesburg area.
The plaintiffs in the litigation, the NAACP, object to parts of the newly proposed map, leaving the final decision to the federal court. – Taylor Vance
Senate leader says ‘Christmas tree’ bill in doubt
Senate leader says it’s unclear if lawmakers will pass a “Christmas Tree” bill
As the Legislature winds down its 2025 regular session, Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins said he’s unsure if lawmakers will agree on a “Christmas Tree” bill, the legislation that doles out millions of dollars around the state for local projects.
Harkins, a Republican from Flowood, told reporters last week that a compromise between the two chambers on a projects bill will depend on how the final budget looks and legislative leaderships’ spending priorities.
For rank-and-file lawmakers, delivering state money for local projects is a major priority because they will typically tout the projects to their constitutes as major accomplishments. The bill is typically one of the last items lawmakers vote on before the end the regular session. – Taylor Vance
By the Numbers
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The current state general fund budget for the coming fiscal year that starts July 1, after lawmakers failed to pass budget bills by a Saturday deadline because of in-fighting between the House and Senate Republican leadership.
Full Legislative Coverage
GOP tax battle gave Mississippi Democrats golden opportunity. Instead, they just went along for the ride
There’s about to be a lot less money for Mississippi government to spend. How and where it’s spent will be even more crucial, dire for poor, rural areas of the state. Mississippi Democrats (and some rural Republicans) missed a golden opportunity to demand changes to the political spoils system GOP leaders have used for doling out state money, which leaves many poor and-or rural areas out in the cold. Read the analysis.
Gov. Reeves signs typo tax overhaul bill into law to phase out income tax, trim grocery tax and raise gasoline tax
Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill to overhaul Mississippi’s tax system — one that many lawmakers inadvertently voted for because of typos — into law on Thursday. This sets Mississippi on a path to become the first state to eliminate an existing income tax, when the tax is phased out in about 14 years. Read the story.
Replacing blight with baseball: Jackson puts Legislature on notice of its multi-million dollar needs
But proportionate to its size, Jackson is frequently shortchanged by the end-of-session earmark legislation, a process driven by politics as opposed to studied need. In the past three sessions, Jackson, the state’s largest city with a population around 150,000, has received just $5.9 million for improvement projects. That’s in comparison to $38.6 million for the 28,000-resident Tate County, the home of House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, Mississippi Today reported in its 2024 investigation on earmarks. Read the story.
Policy analyst: Income tax elimination risks significant harm to Mississippi’s future
The state’s tax system is regressive, meaning that the state’s top income earners pay a smaller share of all state and local taxes than their share of all income. Meanwhile, the bottom 80% of the state’s income earners pay more. Read the story.
Bill changing certificate of need law heads to governor
A bill cleared the Legislature Wednesday that will make it easier for medical facilities to make capital improvements and require the state’s only academic medical center to seek state approval before opening educational facilities outside of Jackson. Read the story.
Speaker says House willing to renegotiate typo tax bill
House Speaker Jason White acknowledged for the first time on Monday that House leaders knowingly passed a typo-riddled plan to overhaul Mississippi’s tax system that Senate leaders have since admitted was a mistake. Read the story.
How did the Mississippi Typo Tax Swap Act of 2025 happen? Legislative recap
In one of the most bizarre episodes under the dome on High Street of modern times, the Mississippi Legislature inadvertently passed the first total state income tax elimination in American history due to some Senate typos. Then Senate leader Delbert Hosemann, who had opposed the measure for months and sent the flawed bill to the House by accident, tried to declare victory. Read the story.
Lawmakers struggle to agree on budget, or even when to work, as session draws to a close
Mississippi’s legislative leaders on Friday remained so far apart on crafting the state’s multi-billion dollar budget that at least some of the individual bills to fund state agencies will die on a legislative deadline. Read the story.
Governor vetoes bill hospital head said would help stabilize their budgets
Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a bill Thursday that would help stabilize hospitals, citing alleged contradictions and the loom of a deficit among his concerns. Read the story.
Shocker! All six lawmakers appointed to finalize the bill banning Mississippi DEI programs are white.
The leaders of the Mississippi Legislature — House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann — are not practicing diversity, equity and inclusion in legislative efforts to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Read the commentary.
Podcast: Tarrif trade war, rising costs, immigration: Mississippi Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson discusses challenges facing Mississippi farmers
Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson gives Mississippi Today’s Geoff Pender and Michael Goldberg an update on the challenges facing Mississippi farmers, including the burgeoning trade war with countries that buy our chicken, soybeans, cotton and other products as well as rising costs and immigration/labor issues. Gipson, a man of many hats besides his trademark cowboy one, also discusses his recording an album! “I’ll sing at the drop of a hat, even if I drop it myself,” Gipson said. Listen to the podcast.
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