Mississippi Legislative session ends with no state budget
NORTHEAST, Miss. (WCBI) – The Mississippi State Legislative Session ended Tuesday without a finalized state budget.
Governor Tate Reeves said he plans to call a special session so lawmakers can finish the job.
“We will develop a plan to get the budget passed quickly, efficiently and ultimately in a way that will benefit the folks we work for,” said Reeves.
By law, the house of Representatives and the Senate must work together to pass a balanced state budget.
Representative Rob Roberson said the House was ready to move forward, but the Senate was not yet ready to come to an agreement.
“The house tried to pass a resolution, and we sent it over to the senate. The senate did not want to extend the session. I think one of their complaints were that we didn’t have a conference weekend,” said Roberson.
It’s not uncommon for a legislative session to end without a budget.
But it did raise concern to some legislators.
Representative Cheikh Taylor worries about the cost of reconvening lawmakers.
“Because of the special session, we’re causing taxpayers more and more money, the last estimate I saw was that it will be over $80,000 per day for us to be called back to session,” said Taylor.
Gov. Reeves said there is no threat of a government shutdown.
But lawmakers can’t reach a deal, he said they are prepared to take next steps.
“We can run state government, certainly the essential parts of state government, without a budget. We’ve shown that, and we’ve proven that,” said Reeves.
Currently, Governor Reeves does not plan to discuss any other legislative concerns at the special session at the moment.
But he said it is possible since they will be addressing funding.
Governor Reeves has not set an official date for the special session as of yet.
The legislature has until July 1 to create a budget for the next fiscal year.
