The fifth week of the Legislative session has now concluded.
On Tuesday Governor Reeves released his required Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget Recommendation using the revenue estimate as it was originally proposed by the Revenue Estimating Group, the total of which comes to $7.641 billion. Governor Reeves’ top priority is eliminating the income tax. He said each fiscal year Mississippi should take the total amount of revenue above estimates and put half of it towards eliminating the income tax, beginning in FY25.
On Wednesday the House passed HB 539 with a 117-5 vote. This bill introduces presumptive eligibility for pregnant women and was authored by House Medicaid Committee Chairwoman Missy McGee. It allows pregnant women whose net family income is 194% or less of the federal poverty level to be presumed eligible for Medicaid. They could receive medical services before their Medicaid application is officially approved by the Mississippi division of Medicaid.
On Thursday the House passed HB 774, which would legalize online sports betting within the state. Similar legislation has failed to pass for the last 4 sessions. The bill, which passed 97 to 14, would allow for online sports gambling, and would require mobile companies to contract with casinos. Only people located in Mississippi can participate in the online wagering platforms. Mississippi currently has 26 casinos.
Earlier this week, a joint meeting was held between the House and Senate Public Health Committees aimed to address health care in the Delta, one of the state’s sickest regions. Representatives from the Delta Council, an economic development organization, presented a plan before each committee during the meeting. The proposal included a plan to jointly manage hospitals and clinics in the Delta under one new government authority. Some Delta lawmakers spoke against this plan, citing issues and that this was the first time they were hearing of it.
Bills have continued to be introduced daily and are now assigned to their respective committee.
January 26, 2024
The fourth week of the Legislative session has now concluded.
Yesterday, the House and Senate again entered a special session called by Governor Reeves and approved a $10 billion Amazon Web Services project in Madison County. This will be the largest-ever capital investment in state history and provide two data centers.
This week bill introduction has steadily increased and they are now assigned to each respective committee.
January 19, 2024
The third week of the Legislative has now concluded.
Yesterday morning, the House and Senate entered a special session called by Governor Reeves to finalize details for an economic development project Reeves announced Tuesday. This was the first special session called by Governor Reeves during a traditional Legislative session in two years.
The nearly $2 billion project will be located in Marshall County and provide 2,000 jobs. The development will produce and transport electric batteries intended to power commercial vehicles.
Many bills have been reported as of this week. Several hundred bills have been "introduced", but are still being uploaded and not publicly accessible at this time. We anticipate these bills to be posted over the course of the week.
January 12, 2024
The second week of the Legislative has now concluded.
On Tuesday, Governor Tate Reeves was inaugurated for his second term. Reeves has previously stated his focus during this term would include tax cuts, job creation, low unemployment and strides in education, including improvements in test scores for grade school reading.
Yesterday, the Senate chamber voted to officiate the Rules on its Senate Committees, and also finalized its committee membership. This morning, the House chamber confirmed its committee membership. Both rosters of Committee membership have been attached for your review. Additionally, the lengthy Senate Rules have been attached for your records.
At this time no bills have been reported. Now that both Chambers have confirmed their Committee Chairs and membership, we anticipate legislation to start being introduced next week, which Ten One Strategies will be monitoring. Bills must be passed out of committee before they are considered by each chamber of the legislature.
January 5, 2024
This week the MS Legislature commenced the 2024 Legislative session on Tuesday, January 2nd. This is the first year of a new legislative 4 year term. The House and Senate will work for 120 days to establish policy impacting Mississippians, this is a "longer" session, with the aim of giving new members time to become better acclimated with the legislative process. The following three years will return to 90 day sessions.
All Senate and House members, and statewide elected officials have taken their oath of office this week, other than Governor Reeves, which will occur on Tuesday January 9th.
House District 48 Representative Jason White was confirmed on Tuesday as the state’s 62nd House Speaker after a unanimous floor vote. Speaker White has much excitement behind him from both parties, and is known for his passion of serving without provoking partisan divide. The newly elected Speaker states his main priorities during the next four years is to create jobs, foster economic development, and increase private investments.
Representative Manly Barton of District 109 was tapped by members to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore for the term. He was elected by acclimation on a voice vote by the House floor.
Yesterday after being sworn-in, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann stated that his legislative priorities this session will be improving Mississippi’s workforce participation rate, ensuring the state’s public pension plan is financially viable, and addressing the state’s health care crisis. One of the state's leading political news organizations published a helpful article on this.
Today the House voted on the rules of this session's committee structure, such as which committees will exist and how many members shall be allowed per committee. House Committee membership has not been assigned yet, a full list of which members are assigned to each committee is expected by next week's end. The Senate has yet to confirm its rules on committee structure.
Over the last few months, lawmakers have held hearings on different policy issues that will be debated this session. It is likely at this time that many bills have been submitted to the Speaker's office for official introduction, however no bills have been referred to any committee. Until committee rules and membership is finalized, no bills are to be referred to any committee. Bills must be passed out of committee before they are considered by each chamber of the legislature.
Many deadlines are approaching in the coming weeks and months, please see their schedule here. The deadline to request general bills and constitutional amendments is Wednesday, February 14, and the introduction deadline of each is Monday, February 19th. The Committees Reporting deadline is Wednesday, March 5.
Past Legislative Sessions
