OurTupelo

Sometime within the last decade or so, setting the Mississippi state budget became a top-secret affair, closely guarded even against many of the lawmakers who are, ostensibly, tasked with setting it.

Why, rank-and-file legislators even have difficulty getting a spreadsheet that clearly shows what’s being proposed until just before they are expected to vote on the more than 100 bills — thousands of pages — that make up the multi-billion budget.

Budget info is on a need-to-know basis in the Mississippi Legislature, and unless you are one of a small handful of negotiators, you don’t need to know. And the public or press? Forget about it.

Shockingly, we’ve seen in recent years that mistakes get made in this hurried, harried and secret process. Big, multi-million dollar mistakes. Things get sneaked into budgets that clear headedness, deliberation and transparency would have prevented. Ditto for things that get left out.

Earlier this year, the Mississippi Legislature overhauled the entire state tax code by accident, because of typos not caught in the secretive, hurried process. Instead of deliberating and fixing the mistakes, the governor and legislative leaders rolled with it, because the typos were inadvertently close to what they wanted.

That’s a helluva footnote in the history of Mississippi governance and fiscal policy, one big, beautiful clerical error.

Mississippi budget secrecy hit another crescendo last week that had rank-and-file lawmakers on both side of the aisle angered. In a chaotic two-day special session scrum, lawmakers passed a $7.1 billion budget with nearly no deliberation and little adherence to proper parliamentary procedure.

Most lawmakers don’t know exactly what they passed in the budget last week.

The process already produced one major snafu: Lawmakers passed a $1.9 million line item in the Department of Health budget that, if signed into law would threaten the loss of more than a billion dollars of the state’s draw down of federal Medicaid dollars.

READ MORE: House passes bill that threatens Mississippi’s Medicaid funding, then skedaddles, leaves Senate holding bag

But because of the hurried, secretive budget process, the Senate was practically forced to pass the measure anyway, because the House had hurriedly passed all its budget bills in the wee hours of the morning then left the Capitol. Lawmakers said they secured a promise from the governor that he will line-item veto the mistake. They abdicated their purse string responsibility and passed the measure on to him.

It wasn’t always like this.

Not that many years ago, the Legislature’s budget process was a more transparent, egalitarian affair. While final haggling and passage of the actual budget bills has always been a late-night, last minute hectic affair, the budget process was more considered and open.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee would hold weeks of public hearings on agencies budget requests and provide some scrutiny — again, in public hearings — on said agencies’ spending for the past year.

Lawmakers, even rank-and-file, spent much more of their time on budget deliberations and generally, budget proposals were not a state secret.

But what started as months of hearings and deliberations over time shrank to weeks, then, most recently, just a couple of days. Now, just a few agencies — the process of their selection is unclear — show up and give very and often superficial presentations to the JLBC.

The process has become more and more closed, secretive, or as one lawmaker put it recently, the “mushroom treatment” for most legislators — and certainly for the public.

Legislative leaders have vowed to open the budget process up, or at least slow it down. But so far, that appears to have been lip service. Rank-and-file members from both legislative chambers, and both sides of the aisle, are growing more frustrated with the process.

Politics are politics, and they can’t be removed from the legislative process. But a state budget shouldn’t be full of secrets and mushrooms and political strat-e-gery.

And huge mistakes.

Freshman Sen. Rod Hickman has penned an op-ed in which he summed things up nicely.

“On the day we returned to the Capitol, legislators were handed nearly 100 appropriations bills totaling over $7.8 billion in public spending — and were expected to vote on them immediately,” Hickman wrote. “No time for review. No chance for public input. No opportunity to amend. That is not governing — it’s rubber-stamping. And it disrespects both the legislative process and the people we serve.”

One day after concluding a raucous special session to pass a state budget, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White told reporters they’re planning to focus on K-12 education policy next year during the 2026 session. 

Hosemann, the Republican leader of the Senate, said he wants to pass legislation to give public school teachers a pay raise and find a way to allow retired teachers to work in the classroom again. 

“Without an educated workforce, Mississippi’s momentum will not continue,” Hosemann said at a press conference on Friday. 

State law sets the salary for public school teachers based on how much college education they have received and how long they have taught. The last time the Legislature raised teacher salaries was during the 2022 session. 

White, a Republican from West, conducted a press conference Friday, but he excluded some media outlets including Mississippi Today. But according to a recording of the press conference in his Capitol office, White intends to push lawmakers, again, to consider school choice legislation and will form a study committee to conduct hearings on the issue during the summer. 

“Our sister states surrounding us here in the South all have basically open enrollment now,” White said. “Now, are we ready to go that far? Do we have the votes to go that far? I don’t know that. But it’s time we have a real conversation about what is best for kids and parents and not the status quo or what might upset somebody somewhere.” 

Full school choice policies typically give state dollars to families and allow them to use that money for their child’s K-12 education, regardless of whether they attend a public or private school. But it’s unclear if White would push for full school choice or a more moderate measure.

Earlier this year, the speaker pushed the House to vote for a bill that allows students in D and F-rated districts to transfer to another school, public or private. However, the bill died on a legislative deadline without a vote from the entire House. 

The House also passed a public-to-public “open enrollment” bill to allow students to transfer to a public school district located outside of the district they live. But a Senate committee killed the measure without bringing it up for a vote.

Mississippi currently has a very limited form of “open enrollment” that allows students to transfer from their home district to a nearby school district. However, the transfer requires the approval of both the home and receiving school districts. 

The House’s proposal would have prevented the home district from blocking the student’s transfer. 

Hosemann on Friday said he was personally in favor of both of those proposals, but he was unsure if a majority of the Senate would vote for the measures. 

Other priorities White outlined were: 

• Continuing to focus on improving the city of Jackson, especially the capital city’s water and sewer systems 
• Reforming the public employee retirement system 

Hosemann’s other priorities include: 

• Restructuring government agencies and their office space 
• Banning student cell phones in public K-12 schools 
• Free community college tuition 

Lexington community members joined attorneys and the National Police Accountability Project to urge a federal appeals court to consider evidence in a civil rights lawsuit against the police department alleging a pattern of violent, racist and unconstitutional policing practices. 

A Wednesday filing asks the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments to consider evidence presented at a 2022 hearing and legal arguments that the U.S. District Court overlooked the evidence in dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims. 

Attorneys for the Black Lexington residents who claim they have been stopped at checkpoints, falsely arrested and retaliated against by members of the police department say the plaintiffs had proper standing, their claims were proper and some claims were dismissed without properly analyzing evidence. 

“For those reasons, Malcolm Stewart, Darious Harris, and Robert Harris respectfully request that the judgment of the district court be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings,” the May 28 appellant’s brief states. 

The original lawsuit, filed in August 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Missisisppi, documented conduct by the former white police chief, Sam Dobbins, who was fired in 2022 after bragging on a recording about killing 13 people while working as a law enforcement officer and using racial and homophobic slurs. 

That complaint also shows the conduct of his successor, Chief Charles Henderson, who is Black and has overseen a department that allegedly is violent against residents and has used roadblocks to exclusively target Black neighborhoods. 

Lexington, located in one of the state’s poorest counties, has a population of less than 2,000 people and is 86% Black. The city’s mayor is white and its aldermen are Black. 

The original lawsuit plaintiffs are brothers Robert and Darius Harris, Malcolm Stewart, Eric Redmond and Peter Reeves. Dobbins, Henderson, the police department and the city were named as defendants in the lawsuit. Later, four police officers were added as defendants. 

“This case is about more than a few rogue officers — it’s about a police department functioning as a tool of racial control and abuse,” Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said in a statement.

Attorneys from the organization, along with attorney Jill Collen Jefferson of JULIAN and others are representing the appellants.

Bonds said the violations have persisted and escalated, which underscores why the organization’s clients are continuing with the case and why it remains critical.  

In 2022, plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order against the Lexington Police Department to prevent them from violating Black residents’ civil rights and prevent violence against them, but a federal judge denied it.

Over the next two years the district court dismissed a majority of the plaintiffs claims, and two plaintiffs remained with claims against the officers, Dobbins and Henderson. 

In January, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee approved an agreed judgment between plaintiff Redmond and the defendants and dismissed all claims brought by the remaining plaintiffs. This is the decision being appealed with the 5th Circuit Court. 

Since 2022, there have been other federal lawsuits brought by Lexington residents against Dobbins, Henderson, the city and the police department. Most of those remain active in the district court or the 5th Circuit. 

In a Wednesday statement, the National Police Accountability Project said the Lexington lawsuit by the five men is an example of an urgent need for local and federal action to stop law enforcement abuse in the South and across the country. 

Last week, the Trump administration rolled back federal oversight of police departments by ending consent decrees and halting investigations. 

The Justice Department under the Biden administration opened a civil rights investigation into the Lexington police, but it did not result in a consent decree. 

The New Orleans Police Department had a consent decree that lasted from 2011 to 2024.

Bonds said the Trump administration’s move is a “deliberate slap in the face to the memory of George Floyd” close to the 5-year anniversary of his death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. 

She also said the move is an attempt to disempower Black communities, shut down paths to accountability and silence resistance. 

“But let us be clear: We are not backing down. We are doubling down,” Bonds said. 

Editor’s note: This essay is part of Mississippi Today Ideas, a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share fact-based ideas about our state’s past, present and future. You can read more about the section here. 

When Mississippi’s own Jamal Roberts captured the crown as American Idol’s newest star, it wasn’t just a personal victory. It was a collective affirmation.

Roberts won with the largest vote total in the show’s history, fueled by millions of votes from fans who believed in his voice. People voted from their phones, laptops and tablets, some casting multiple votes in one night. The results were immediate, visible and powerful.

It was a vivid demonstration of the power of participation. But it also highlighted a profound contrast: in civic life, particularly in Mississippi, voter turnout remains inconsistent — and for many, impossible.

Mississippi still has some of the harshest felony disenfranchisement laws in the nation. People who have served their time remain barred from the ballot box unless they obtain a pardon or have their rights restored through an arduous legislative process that rarely grants relief. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, over 200,000 Mississippians are disenfranchised, and many of them are Black — a legacy of Jim Crow that continues to define who gets to fully participate in democracy.

Roberts’ win demonstrates what’s possible when people are moved to act. Imagine that same energy channeled into local, state and federal elections. Imagine Mississippians casting ballots not only for a singer but for their children’s schools, their community hospitals, their roads, water systems and criminal justice policies.

But unlike reality television, the results of voting in a democracy aren’t immediate. Votes cast in August may not change policies by September. Ballots mailed in November may not yield results until months later. Democracy is not designed for instant gratification. It is designed for lasting transformation. That requires patience, persistence and most importantly, participation.

History is rich with examples of what sustained, organized civic action can accomplish.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) began with a single mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver. She organized. She lobbied, and she galvanized others into action. Today, thanks to their advocacy, all 50 states have laws that criminalize drunk driving with legal blood alcohol limits, and thousands of lives are saved each year. Change didn’t happen overnight. It happened because people voted, lobbied and stayed engaged.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids launched a decades-long effort to reduce youth smoking. They mobilized parents, teachers, doctors and young people themselves. Through a combination of public education, local ordinances and federal action, youth smoking has declined dramatically in the U.S.

The Fight for $15 movement, led by low-wage workers demanding a livable wage, began with walkouts and was once considered a political longshot. Today, it has reshaped local economies across the country, resulting in minimum wage increases in cities, counties and states, and is influencing federal policy discussions.

These examples all underscore a key truth: showing up to the polls may not produce the kind of instant results seen in a televised competition, but it is a necessary step toward durable change. Policy requires organizing, coalition-building and a long-game mindset. It involves “We the People” and that includes returning citizens, low-income families, rural voters, young people and everyone in between.

Mississippi has a storied history of both voter suppression and voter courage. From Fannie Lou Hamer to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the fight to vote has always been met with resistance but also with resilience. Today, that fight continues, especially for those silenced by a criminal legal system designed to exclude.

The good news is that the blueprint is clear. Vote like Jamal Roberts is counting on it. But also vote like your child’s school lunch depends on it. Like your access to clean water depends on it. Like your loved one’s right to return home from prison and fully participate in society depends on it — because it does.

Whether in-person or absentee, whether at the courthouse or by mail, casting a ballot is a statement of presence. Even when the results aren’t immediate, the act itself is cumulative. It builds pressure. It signals demand. It creates momentum.

Let Jamal Roberts’ victory be more than a moment of celebration — let it be a mirror. Mississippians have already proven the ability to mobilize in historic numbers, helping drive more than 26 million votes to secure Roberts’ win. That level of engagement doesn’t belong solely to the world of entertainment. It belongs to democracy. When that same energy is directed toward policy and people, toward justice and equity, history is not just watched — it’s made.

As Mississippi approaches Election Day on Tuesday, the opportunity to act is here. Let this be a fresh start. The same spirit that voted for Jamal Roberts can show up at the ballot box — whether early, absentee or in-person. Let Mississippi once again show up and show out — not just for a voice on stage, but for the voices in our communities who deserve to be heard, counted and valued.

Pauline Rogers is a longtime advocate for criminal justice reform and the founder of the RECH Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated individuals as they reintegrate into society. She is a Transformative Justice Fellow through The OpEd Project Public Voices Fellowship..

CLARKSDALE — Hundreds of people packed inside a local auditorium Thursday to see the hit film ” Sinners,” set in their community and steeped in Mississippi Delta culture.

The special screening of the blockbuster horror film included an appearance by Director Ryan Coogler and was made possible by a community petition.

“I have family from Mississippi — my uncle, my grandfather — and I had never been until working on this script,” Coogler said, addressing the crowd. “It really changed me, just to come here.”

The movie, starring Michael B. Jordan as twins, is about two brothers coming home to Mississippi to launch a juke joint. It’s also a supernatural vampire flick that blends elements of drama, action and music.

“Sinners” composer Ludwig Göransson, actor Miles Canton and others who worked on the film also attended the screening.

“Anytime that filmmakers take the time out to pay homage to the Delta, especially, because we’re the root of music, the blues culture, that means a lot,” said Brandice Brown Williams, a theater teacher who brought two of her students to the screening.

The film is set in 1930s Clarksdale, Mississippi, but current day Clarksdale doesn’t have a movie theater, making it difficult for people to see the film about their hometown. Community organizers decided to change that, starting a petition to invite the cast and crew to Clarksdale and to collaborate on hosting a public screening.

“The love you have for Southern folk, Mississippians and Clarksdale came to life through your commitment to writing us right,” community organizer Tyler Yarbrough said. “We are ready. We are waiting. And we would be proud to welcome you back to where it all began.”

During the screening, the crowd was expressive — in response to various scenes, they gasped, laughed and cheered. Afterward, Coogler and others stayed for a Q&A.

One attendee, Cindy Hurst, praised the film, calling it a “really good visual representation of the beauty of the Black culture.”

On the edge of the Briarwood community in northeast Jackson sits a white building with a blue awning. On any given night, its rooms are filled with artists, dancers and creatives who have come to build community and hone their crafts.

This is the home of the Briarwood Arts Center, the creation of Stephen Brown, also known as the hip-hop artist, producer and DJ 5th Child.

“During the pandemic, there was this unhoused population that had an encampment in front of the building, and the gas station next door had become a dumping site. There were huge piles of trash and tires and all sorts of stuff,” Brown said. “It was really frustrating seeing that as I pulled into my neighborhood after a long day of work.”

The building had been abandoned since he moved into the neighborhood in 2017. It was the remnants of an abortion clinic, turned daycare center, turned 3,500 square feet of deserted possibility. A property management company with property close by eventually bought and leased the building in the summer of 2022.

“When this opportunity presented itself, I knew that it had to be comprehensive,” Brown said. “It wasn’t gonna be just like one type of art. It’s not Stephen Brown Art Center or 5th Child Art Center. This is Briarwood Arts Center. It’s not about one person, but it’s about the community.”

Brown aimed to fill a void in the local arts scene. Popular hangouts like The Flamingo, a collective space and venue in Fondren, had closed, and there weren’t many places around for people who were into the alternative arts and music culture.

“I wanted to create something where we own it, within the artist community, that nobody could just take from us or remove us from or anything like that,” he said. “I didn’t know how that was going to happen, I just knew that it needed to happen even if I wasn’t the person to do it.”

He secured the keys later that fall, and soon after hosted an open-house, gathering ideas for what community members wanted to see. That culminated into stacked programming, with a calendar flush with events such as line dancing classes, Kuumba (Swahili for creativity) Youth Night, GoodEDvice ACT Prep Club and Crochet Circle. Most of the events at the Briarwood Arts Center are free.

“The work that we’re doing here, we can find other ways to make money, but I don’t wanna make money on the backs of the community members,” he said. “I don’t wanna price them out of these enriching experiences, so that’s why the stuff that we do is free.”

Each room at the center is designed with the artist in mind. There’s the Craft Kitchen, where visitors can develop their crafting skills, practice using a Cricut machine and learn how to sew their own projects. In the Ubuntu room, dancers learn movement through music, and community members can brush up on their self-defense skills. There’s also Cole’s House II, a music lab, and The Branding Lab is complete with a green screen and backdrops for photography practice.

“The space is really designed for folks who are still trying to figure it out, who have the genuine curiosity about something that they’re like, ‘What if I don’t get it right? What if it’s not perfect?’ Well, come here and screw up,” he said. “Come here and make all your mistakes so that you can fine tune it and take it to a bigger, nicer, fancier venue down the line.”

Brown hopes that his persistence and dedication to creating safe spaces inspires others in Jackson to imagine what’s possible for their neighborhoods.

“What I want is for someone in Shady Oaks to be like, ‘Oh man, we got an abandoned building right here in our neighborhood too. Let’s put our money together and start the Shady Oaks Art Center.’ Or somebody in Alta Woods or in Virden Addition to say, ‘Hey man, we got this abandoned building. How about we start the Alta Woods Art Center?’”

Briarwood Arts Center will hold events for 601 JXN Day, which is an annual weekend long celebration of the city coordinated by Visit Jackson. Residents can participate in the Briarwood Unity 2K, as well as a community clean-up. The center will also host the Siegel Select Block Party, a service program where volunteers will collect donations and supplies for residents who stay in the hotel, which is right next to the arts center’s parking lot. 

“There’s no fee to register, but this is more about a demonstration of establishing that camaraderie and dignity for the Briarwood neighborhood,” he said. “Before Fondren was Fondren, somebody had to care enough. Before Belhaven was Belhaven, somebody had to be the squeaky wheel.”

Brown sees the space he cultivated as one that reaches across generations. He said he’s seen visitors at Briarwood Arts Center from ages 6 to 94.

“It’s not just about the technical skill of sewing a stitch, but they’re talking about history. They’re talking about legacy. They’re talking about family tradition and all that stuff is being passed down through the arts,” he said. “The arts are a vehicle to bring these people together. Arts have always been, not only a time capsule, but also a means of resistance. They’ve been a blueprint for resistance.”

More information about Briarwood Arts Center and a calendar of events can be found on its website.

Candidates running in Jackson’s general election June 3 have doled out nearly half a million dollars vying for public office, with state Sen. John Horhn far in the lead with nearly $200,000 in campaign expenditures since the beginning of the year.

The Democratic nominee for mayor reported raising $350,000 this year and holding less than $25,000 in cash-on-hand, according to campaign finance reports due Tuesday.

Note: View a full list of reported contributions and expenditures from mayoral and council candidates and links to individual reports at the bottom of this story.

Second in spending in the mayor’s race was independent candidate and businessman Rodney DePriest with just over $72,000 in expenditures. He raised nearly $90,000 and had about $17,000 in cash-on-hand this week.

Horhn and DePriest face two other independents and a Republican, who combined have raised less than $5,000. Independent candidates Zach Servis and Lillie Stewart-Robinson reported spending about $1,600 and $1,300, respectively, while Republican candidate Kenny Gee did not file a report on time, but told Mississippi Today he’s spent $700 out-of-pocket.

A sixth mayoral candidate, conservative talk radio host and local businessman Kim Wade, who ran as an independent, recently announced he was dropping out of the race, though the city clerk told Mississippi Today that Wade did not file termination paperwork so his name will appear as normal on the ballot. He endorsed DePriest and did not file a campaign finance report on the deadline.

Another high-dollar race is the election for the Ward 1 council seat between incumbent Councilman Ashby Foote, who is running as an independent for the first time after being elected as a Republican, Democratic nominee Jasmine Barnes and independent candidate Grace Greene. The three have collectively spent nearly $90,000.

Ward 7 Democratic candidate Kevin Parkinson far out-raised his independent opponent, Ron Aldridge, $45,000 compared to about $14,000, and Republican candidate Taylor Turcotte did not file a report, though the ad agency owner told Mississippi Today she has conducted her own advertising without donors and would file a report soon.

Two political action committees also filed reports outlining their participation in Jackson elections this year: MS PAC and Capitol Resources PAC, which contributed to incumbent Ward 4 Councilman Brian Grizzell ($1,000) and Horhn ($2,500), respectively.

Both Horhn and DePriest reported that some of their largest donations, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, came from LLCs. While Mississippi law limits donations from corporations at $1,000, LLCs that are taxed as sole proprietorships are not included in that cap. There are no limits on contributions from individuals or political committees.

Horhn’s largest donations include $12,500 from former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and $5,000 each from a law firm located in Tippah County, Hern Law Firm PLLC, two Madison-based professionals, insurance executive Brian Johnson and physician Billy Wayne Long, and Jackson architecture firm M3A Architecture PLLC.

DePriest’s largest donation was $10,000 from Clinton-based equipment rental company HIJACK LLC. He also received $5,000 donations from Barksdale and several Jackson-based professionals including real estate agents John Dinkins and Warren Speed, lawyer Cody Bailey, surgeon Matt Jones, physician James Clay Hayes, and an executive’s spouse Mollie Van Devender. He also received $6,000 from Raymond-based property management firm MDMW Investments and $5,000 from Texas resident Matt Wiggins.

As is common in local elections, several candidates did not submit reports by the deadline, including incumbent Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who told Mississippi Today he would file shortly, and his opponent Marques Jackson, who said he would file Thursday after checking his bank statements to ensure accurate reporting.

UPDATE: After the publication of this story, Stokes filed his report and the city clerk supplied it to Mississippi Today.

Editor’s Note: Jim Barksdale is a Mississippi Today donor and served as a founding member of the Mississippi Today board of directors. Donors do not in any way influence our newsroom’s editorial decisions. A list of Mississippi Today donors can be found here, and Mississippi Today’s board of directors can be found here.

Lawmakers on Thursday finally passed a $7.1 billion state budget to fund government agencies, but it wasn’t a master class in legislative statesmanship. 

Senators complained about their House counterparts, House members fought bitterly among themselves about budget details and lawmakers knowingly passed a bill that conflicts with federal Medicaid regulations. 

The public display of bickering took place during a special legislative session because lawmakers couldn’t agree on a budget during their regular session earlier this year, which was also mired in Republican infighting. Gov. Tate Reeves called them back to Jackson this week to pass a budget before the new fiscal year begins July 1. 

“Yes — this should have been completed in regular session,” Reeves wrote on social media. “But once clear that was no longer an option, the two sides worked diligently to find an agreement that met my specific criteria and passed it while minimizing costs of a Special Session.” 

The Senate wrapped up its work Thursday evening, after debating whether it should approve the state Department of Health’s budget, after lawmakers realized it contained a provision that could jeopardize $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid money for Mississippi. 

The 52-member chamber approved the budget and said they had a guarantee that Reeves would veto the provision out of the agency’s budget. 

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann thanked the senators for their work, but he accused House leaders of working in bad faith by renegging on some prior budget agreements and by filing bills that were outside Reeves’ parameters for the special session. 

“There were three more significant bills that came from the House, which were not on the governor’s call and did not reflect the agreement of the House, the governor and the Senate,” Hosemann said.  

Senate Democrats opposed almost all of the budget bills in the special session because they complained they did not receive any advance drafts of the bills ahead of the session. 

Hosemann told Mississippi Today that he shared a budget summary with all senators on Sunday and encouraged them to ask questions about the budget to Senate leaders ahead of the special session. 

Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, attempted to replace agency funds frozen by the federal government with state funds, but Republican senators used procedural tactics to defeat the measures. 

The House finished its work on the budget in the early hours of Thursday morning after working all Wednesday night to approve, debate, and question the spending bills. 

House leaders struck a more conciliatory tone with Democratic members late Wednesday, after the two factions, earlier in the day, butted heads over the budget process and House Speaker Jason White threatening to remove a member from the chamber. 

Like their Senate colleagues, House Democrats grew frustrated that they were largely kept in the dark about the specifics of the budget and used a constitutional provision to force the reading aloud of lengthy budget bills. 

Irate at the filibuster tactic, White, a Republican from West, and his leadership team refused to answer any questions from Democrats if they continued to request that bills be read. 

White posted on social media that he shared a digital copy of a budget summary with House members on Tuesday and placed a physical copy of the summary on their desks on Wednesday. 

“When I was elected Speaker, I stated my goal was to bring more order and timeliness to the budget chaos while allowing all House members time to read and review the spending bills before they are asked to vote on them,” White said. “While we may not have perfected that process yet, as Speaker, I will maintain the goal of transparency and working in an orderly fashion.”

It appeared the House would continue to bicker over the budget after Republicans refused to allow members from both parties to ask questions in a House Appropriations Committee meeting, prompting further outrage from Democrats. 

“So, we’re not allowed to debate any piece of legislation in this process, is that correct?” Democratic Rep. John Hines of Greenville asked. 

“That’s correct,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Read, R-Gautier, responded. 

Read and other appropriations leaders cited the Democrats’ earlier filibuster tactics as the reason for not allowing them to ask questions. 

But some Republicans complained that the committee moved too fast for them to understand what was being proposed.

Rep. Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, during the committee meeting, asked a committee leader to repeat his brief explanation of an amendment to the budget for the State Auditor’s Office. 

Rep. Sam Mims V, a Republican from McComb, declined to repeat his explanation of the amendment and continued to speed through the budget. 

The committee meeting showcased how, in recent years, rank-and-file lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have complained they aren’t provided budget details in time to vet and debate the bills and how individual members have virtually no input in the budget process.

But longtime lawmakers said the special session this week was one of the worst budget-making cycles they’ve seen in roughly a decade. 

“I understand that we’re in the minority, and Republicans are in a supermajority, but there’s just no dialogue taking place,” Rep. Bryant Clark, a Democrat from Pickens, said. “This is the straw that broke the camel’s back.” 

Despite the chaos from the committee meeting, Democrats on the House floor stopped asking for bills to be read Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and Republicans chose to answer their questions. 

The most substantive debate on the House floor occurred over the Mississippi Development Authority’s budget, the agency responsible for economic development.

Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader, offered four amendments to the agency’s budget, but the GOP majority voted against them mostly along partisan lines. 

Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, tried to amend the legislation to reduce the amount of money counties are required to contribute to economic development projects in areas with extremely high poverty rates or failing school districts. 

Rep. Karl Oliver, a Republican from Winona who leads an appropriations committee, opposed the amendments because he said he did not want the new proposals to jeopardize earlier agreements he reached with Senate leaders. 

Most agencies in the proposed budget will see flat funding with no major increases or decreases. But many agencies will see a drop-off starting July of millions of dollars in “one-time” money, either federal pandemic funds that are drying up or state cash for projects that lawmakers are withholding this year. 

Under the budget agreement, lawmakers are planning to leave about $1 billion unencumbered. Some legislative leaders say this is prudent, given federal cuts and uncertainty in Washington. Others question whether state agencies will suffer, and contractors go unpaid on already started projects, from not having capital expense money allocated in the coming year.

Some highlights of the spending agreements House and Senate leaders have reached for the coming budget year:

Medicaid: $969.9 million, a 6.69% increase

K-12 education: $3.34 billion, a .4% decrease, primarily due to a decrease in enrollment

Universities: $838.4 million, a .4% decrease

Community colleges: $299.4 million, a .22% increase

Department of Corrections: $438.2 million, a 4.4% increase

TOTAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET: $7.135 billion, a 1.57% increase

Senate leaders on Thursday realized improper spending of $1.9 million in the Health Department’s budget bill sent over by the House could jeopardize $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid money for Mississippi.

But after it passed the measure Wednesday night — despite having been warned about the problem — the House went home. It declared its work for a special session to set a state budget done, and the Senate could either concur, or … lump it.

It left the Senate holding the bag.

The Senate was left with some onerous choices: Pass a bill with a known disastrous flaw and hope the governor can fix it with a line-item veto, stay in Jackson with senators twiddling their thumbs at taxpayer expense until the House is by law forced to return in three days, or kill the bill. This would leave the Health Department without a state budget as the new budget year looms on July 1, and the governor would have to force lawmakers back into yet another special session to fix it, at taxpayer cost.

After hours of debating what to do and talking with the governor’s office, the Senate opted for the former option — it sent the flawed bill to Reeves after securing his promise that he would veto the element of the legislation that jeopardized Medicaid funding.

“I think today, if we were in the grocery store business, we’d be hearing over the intercom system, ‘cleanup on aisle five, cleanup on aisle seven, cleanup on aisle 14.’ It’s been a mess. We’ve been doing a lot of cleanup today,” said Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southhaven. “The governor has assured us he will line-item veto this bill … I’m going to trust him, he’s never lied to me.”

The move allowed senators to pass the state budget and conclude the special legislative session, but only after senators on Thursday plodded through the passage of numerous bills the House had sent over after it pulled an all-nighter and left town. They complained the House had sent numerous jacked-up bills over and then skedaddled, leaving little recourse to fix problems.

In this case, the problem was the House’s Health Department budget proposal, which allocated $1.9 million to Methodist Rehabilitation Center. This would make the center whole after paying more in provider taxes than it is receiving in directed payments from Medicaid.

But the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services deems this improper and says certain entities cannot be exempted in such a way. Provider taxes must be imposed uniformly to meet federal law and CMS regulatory standards. This means the tax must be applied across the board as it relates to similar providers of that type.

To meet these requirements, states attest they will not refund certain providers and, in essence, hold them harmless from the tax. Providing a special appropriation to reimburse one hospital for the tax they pay appears to violate these requirements, which could jeopardize the provider tax for all hospitals in Mississippi.

Provider taxes, which are helping prop up hospitals in Mississippi without Medicaid expansion, are under extreme scrutiny in Congress right now because of issues like this.

The bill originated in Republican Rep. Clay Deweese’s budget subcommittee. Deweese could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

House Public Health Chairman Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, said he found out about the issue after the bill passed out of committee in the House on Wednesday, before it came before the full House for a vote.

“We were so late in the game when we discovered it, it had already passed through appropriations,” Creekmore said. “It was in Clay’s committee, of course I had some influence over that, but it was Clay’s call to let it ride.”

Neither House Speaker Jason White nor Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday immediately responded to requests for comment.

Senate leaders on Thursday said they were in communication with the governor’s office and he had assured them he would line-item veto the House’s SNAFU.

READ MORE: Legislative session crashes, budget dies over feuding between GOP House, Senate leaders: Legislative recap

In a social media post on Thursday afternoon, Reeves did not mention the health budget error, but he acknowledged he had meetings with Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann throughout the day about “concerning” items in some bills. He urged senators to knowingly pass the bills with errors so he could issue a veto and end the special session on Thursday.

“We have identified a few minor items that are concerning in a few — of the over 100 — bills that must be passed,” Reeves said. “I believe it is important that the Senate pass these bills as is to get the Session completed … and I will use my constitutional authority to deal with the concerning items to protect Mississippi citizens, businesses, and taxpayers. The best thing for taxpayers is no doubt for the Special Session to be wrapped up today, and I appreciate everyone working with us to get that accomplished.”

Some senators lamented that setting a budget, controlling the state’s purse strings, is the domain of the Legislature, not the executive branch, and they bristled at the idea of Reeves having to fix problems through vetoes because the House left and refused further parlay.

The saga marked the second instance in recent months where a consequential error evaded the notice of lawmakers and threw a wrench in the legislative process.

During this year’s regular legislative session, the Senate accidentally passed a typo-riddled bill to eliminate the state income tax. Instead of a long, cautious phase-out of the income tax, the Senate accidentally approved a phase-out that would happen at a much faster clip, as the House had wanted. The House leadership realized the Senate’s error and ran with it. Reeves later signed the typo tax bill into law.

READ MORE: Gov. Reeves signs typo tax overhaul bill into law to phase out income tax, trim grocery tax and raise gasoline tax

More broadly, rank-and-file lawmakers in recent years, both Democrat and Republican, have complained they aren’t provided budget details or drafts of major bills in time to vet and debate them. Senators on Thursday said there were numerous other bills sent from the House with errors or changes that had not been agreed to by both chambers.

“We need to remember that this is the same legislative session where we inadvertently, or advertently, sent over legislation with a typo in it, figured out there was a typo in the legislation, and it was still sent to the governor and signed as is,” said Sen. Rod Hickman, a Democrat from Macon. “And now we’re saying we’re going to trust this same process to fix an error that we all know about, and we’re all on the record knowing about, that could jeopardize this entire (Medicaid) program.”