As the Mississippi Legislature moved into the third month of this session, legislators are beginning some of the toughest parts of governing. Negotiations for the 2024 Fiscal Year budget are underway. Mississippi has some of the largest financial coffers in history thanks to large influxes of funds from the federal government. The state still has almost $298.1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, and legislative leaders are considering how and where those funds will be expended, in addition to the normal state revenue funds.

On Tuesday, the House Medicaid Committee, chaired by Representative Joey Hood (R-Ackerman), overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 2212 which seeks to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to a full year. Days prior to Tuesday, Governor Tate Reeves announced his decision to sign the bill into law if it reached his desk. Along with House Speaker Philip Gunn, Rep. Hood received a letter of support regarding postpartum coverage from the Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s Executive Director Drew Snyder. The bill, authored by Senator Kevin Blackwell (R-Southaven), now heads to the House floor for consideration. A similar bill died last year during the 2022 Legislative Session.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 533, authored by Sen. Tyler McCaughn (R-Newton), is a ballot initiative resolution continuing to move forward in the House of Representatives’ Constitution Committee. The resolution seeks to reinstate Mississippi’s ballot initiative process by allowing the state’s citizens to gather signatures for placing an issue on the ballot. However, any abortion issue regarding the state’s strict anti-abortion law and any change to the Mississippi Constitution would be prohibited. The resolution in its current form would require approximately 240,000 registered voter signatures to be approved by the Secretary of State and placed on the ballot. If passed in the House, the added reverse repealer would send the resolution to a conference committee where three conferees from each chamber would negotiate the final details.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee passed House Bill 1369. HB 1369 pertains to changing technical parts of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), the state’s education funding formula. Instead of using a metric of average daily attendance (ADA), the bill would use a metric of average daily membership (ADM). During discussion of the bill before the committee, Chairman Dennis Debar (R-Leakesville) indicated that this bill would utilize certain education code sections and play a role in moving forward towards fully funding MAEP, an achievement that has only been done twice since the early 2000s. The bill passed out of committee as amended by striking all House language and inserting Senate language. HB 1369 now awaits further debate in the Senate Appropriations Committee due to being double referred.

This week, the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee did not take action on prescription benefit management (PBM) reform.  The original legislation introduced on behalf of the Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association included measures that were opposed by the entire business community and every health insurer in the state because it would arguably increase premiums paid by employers and employees.  After weeks of discussion, the last measure was put to bed and Committee Chairman Hob Bryan (D-Amory) committed to studying the issue over the summer.

Also this week, Canopy Children’s Solutions held a press conference in the Mississippi State Capitol to announce their new partnership with the Madison County School District. This partnership has led to the creation and release of an app called Canopy Anywhere, which provides a determination of and access to the mental health care needed by children and their families. Canopy Anywhere also will have the ability to screen families for their social determinant of health, analyzing housing environments, food insecurity, transportation access, and their overall health. This advanced technology would lead to early intervention in various areas of care for those who require additional support. For more than 100 years, Canopy has supported children and families in Mississippi in the areas of mental health, abuse, addiction and developmental disorders.