The end of the 2024 Mississippi Regular Legislative Session is rapidly approaching and at this point there is a deadline almost every day. Wednesday, April 10th was the deadline for general bills to pass off of the floor in the opposite chamber. Each chamber let key issues of the opposite chamber die on their calendar, creating some expected tensions between the House of Representatives and the Senate that could affect the rest of the Session and result in Governor Tate Reeves having to call the Legislature back for a Special Session to finish some budget matters.
One of Speaker Jason White’s (R-West) top priorities in the 2024 Session is rewriting the public education funding formula. Early on, Speaker White and House Education Chairman Rob Roberson (R-Starkville) proposed the Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education (INSPIRE) Act, which created a base fee per student and then added weights for certain considerations like special needs, low income, etc. The Senate has been proposing tweaks to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) funding formula, instead of a full rewrite. On Tuesday the Senate killed the INSPIRE Act in favor of their own plan, which includes a $1,000 teacher pay raise. On Wednesday, the House made a final effort amending an education bill to include the INSPIRE Act and sent it back to the Senate one last time to see if they can come to an agreement. If the Senate doesn’t budge, then the Legislature will likely adjourn this Session without an education budget, and Gov. Reeves will have to bring them back for a Special Session before July 1st.
Following the education vote on Wednesday, both Speaker White and Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann sent out press releases doubling down on their respective positions. Speaker White stated “[a]s Speaker of the House, I have clearly communicated with Senate leadership the House position that we have funded MAEP for the last time.” In a separate press release, Lt. Gov. Hosemann discussed his preference of studying both proposed funding plans before next Session. He wrote, “[s]tudying the issue together, in connection with the Department of Education and our new Superintendent, will hopefully result in a new, long-term sustainable formula both chambers can agree on, which is good for students and schools.” Leadership in both chambers are trying to wrap up business and adjourn Sine Die ahead of schedule, so how this issue plays out over the next week or so will be critical.
Also this week, in a lesson that no piece of legislation is truly dead until the Legislature adjourns Sine Die, House Bill 1265, the “Clean Claim” Act was amended late in the afternoon on deadline day to include Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) language that the business community had killed earlier this Session.
As we near the end of the Session, appropriators and the Legislative Budget Office staff will be working nearly around the clock to get the appropriations bills ready to be finalized. Once final budget numbers are decided, it still takes several days to draft some of the budgets. While the deadline to pass appropriations and revenue bills off the floor of the opposite chamber is not until next week, both chambers have already met that deadline. Since the appropriations conference process has begun, it is expected that work will continue through the weekend on budgets. Leadership will also be meeting regularly to decide on which special projects to fund, what comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, and what will come out of the Capital Expense fund.