This legislative week was full of deadlines. Tuesday, March 15 was the deadline for original floor action on appropriations and revenue bills from the opposite chamber. The following days were the deadlines for reconsideration and to dispose of any motions to reconsider on those bills. Friday, March 18 is the deadline to concur or not concur on any changes that came from the opposite chamber on those same bills. Friday also is the deadline to introduce local and private legislation that has a revenue feature. As Senators and Representatives continue marching toward the Sine Die adjournment date of Sunday, April 3, many hours of negotiations will be required to come to consensus on the numbers that will make up Mississippi’s 2023 Fiscal Year budget. As is typical, all legislators are expected to work throughout the upcoming ‘Conference Weekend’ on March 25-27.

The House of Representatives sent the “Mississippi Health Care Workers Retention Act of 2022” to conference for further negotiations. House Bill 794 seeks to provide funding for hospitals, long-term care facilities, ambulatory services, and other health-related entities to pay for their health care employees that provide Covid-19 related services. The Mississippi State Department of Health would be responsible for determining the grant amounts and disbursement. An exact appropriated amount and disbursement is yet to be determined by the Legislature.

On Thursday, the Senate adopted the conference report of HB 530, also known as the Strategically Accelerating the Recruitment and Retention of Teachers (START) Act. The conference committee meeting was publicly broadcast and open to the public as Senators Dennis Debar (R-Leakesville), Briggs Hopson (R- Vicksburg), and Hob Bryan (D-Amory) met with Representatives Kent McCarty (R-Hattiesburg), Kevin Felsher (R-Biloxi), and Jansen Owen (R-Poplarville) to negotiate and discuss the final language of the bill. On the Senate floor, Sen. Debar stated that with this legislation, the average teacher would see a salary increase of approximately $5,000. Upon concurrence of the committee report in the Senate, the bill now only lacks a concurrence of the committee report by the House before heading to the desk of Governor Tate Reeves. This legislation is widely considered a major step towards surpassing the Southeastern average for teacher pay and has been a dominant topic of discussion throughout the entire 2022 Legislative Session.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 583 was introduced by Sen. Tyler McCaughn (R-Newton) and passed by the Senate. The resolution’s intent is to suspend the rules to pass legislation to codify Article 3, Section 17A of the Mississippi Constitution, which prohibits the acquisition of property by eminent domain for a period of 10 years after its acquisition. This resolution is an attempt to revive a few related House and Senate bills that died in the legislative process earlier this session. SC 583 now heads to the House for approval.

As Conference Weekend approaches, the House of Representatives and Senate still are negotiating a potential personal income tax elimination bill in which disbursement of the state’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are part of the negotiations too. On Thursday, Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann indicated that the state could lose around $1.8 billion in ARPA funds if not appropriated this Legislative Session. Personal income tax revenue makes up approximately one-third of the state general fund. Additionally, Mississippi is one of the few states left that has not appropriated a majority of ARPA funds.

Gov. Reeves issued his first veto of the 2022 Legislative Session. The Governor vetoed HB 980, a bill which passed the House and the Senate unanimously. It would have created a new section of statutory code to provide an automatic defense to prosecution for any charge that is brought within two years of a federal declassification of a controlled substance. Gov. Reeves stated that the legislation “imprudently abdicates to the federal government the police powers of the state to regulate substances and impose criminal penalties for violations of the Mississippi Controlled Substances Act.” The author of the bill, Rep. Nick Bain (R- Corinth), indicated that HB 980 would not decriminalize anything but would allow the Mississippi State Department of Health to remove a drug from the controlled substance schedule until the Legislature promulgated laws on it. This bill likely will be addressed in next year’s session.