JACKSON, Miss.–Gov. Tate Reeves has called a special session that begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday for the purposes of passing a state budget.
The legislative session ended and state lawmakers went home without having passed a budget, due to some disagreements that have since been worked out.
The state fiscal year begins July 1, and a budget must be in place by then for state government to function.
Reeves said in an announcement Tuesday about the session, that the state budget for the coming year will be roughly the same as the budget for the current year, saying that’s an acknowledgement that the previous budget was larger than the one before that.
“There are still a lot of unknowns about what the federal budget is going to look like going into the next fiscal year and so, it certainly makes sense for states…to be prepared for whatever may occur coming out of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’.”
Reeves said some state agencies likely would not see a lot of wiggle room, and that the money that has been appropriated, roughly $7 billion, would not be used for many projects, but rather would fund the core of state government.
Some of the hangups that caused the budget bills to not be passed before the end of the session involved money for special projects.
Reeves said there are around 100 bills that must be passed by law in the session.
He said he believes lawmakers could possibly be done in a day, but that it would likely take longer.
