Lawmakers in the Senate followed the House in leaving the state capitol in Jackson without approving a budget, leaving it up to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special session to ensure the government is funded after June 30, 2025.
While the House gave the Senate an hours-long opportunity on Wednesday to extend the regular session, Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and his chamber declined the invite before gaveling out Thursday morning. As lawmakers began to hit the road for their respective districts, Reeves held a press conference downtown to discuss his plans for calling them back to the negotiating table.
“I do not know the timing of any special session to be called yet,” Reeves said. “But we will develop a plan to get the budget passed quickly, efficiently, and ultimately in a way that will benefit the folks we work for and that, of course, is you – the taxpayers of this state.”
Reeves used the press conference to call out media outlets and others for what he believes to be an alarmist narrative surrounding the lack of a budget, saying the state will continue to operate as normal and there is no “imminent threat” of a government shutdown. In the meantime, some state agencies are scrambling to plan for Fiscal Year 2026 with little to no input on how much funding they might receive.
Encouraging residents and agency heads to “calm down” as lawmakers have adjourned a session three times in the last two decades without passing a budget, Reeves said he has spoken with leadership of both chambers about reaching an agreement.
“Our state government is going to be just fine as we work through this process,” Reeves said. “I am confident that the House and the Senate will be able to work together and get this done. In fact, I have been in personal communication with legislative leadership over the last several weeks, and I don’t think they’re really that far apart.”
Disagreement among lawmakers was more about timing of legislative procedure, rather than the content of the state’s estimated $7 billion budget.
Republican House Speaker Jason White claims he tried to begin negotiations well in advance of what is referred to as “conference weekend,” a late-session weekend that has become par for the course for leaders in both chambers to approve the budget and other appropriations bills. The Senate chose to wait until last week’s conference weekend, which included multiple budget-related deadlines, but the House no-showed out of principle before unsuccessfully trying to revive conversations this week.
The outcome of lawmakers pointing fingers at each other and being unable to reach terms of a budget in a timely fashion puts Reeves in a position governors in Mississippi don’t often find themselves in: getting to set an agenda for lawmakers without forcing a special session. Based on how special sessions work under the state constitution, Reeves will be able to order the exact topics lawmakers are to discuss, and it’s not limited to just the budget.
During the press conference, Reeves said other legislation that failed during the regular session, such as legalizing mobile sports betting, allowing more school choice options, creating a “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” and reforming the state’s certificate of need laws, may be included. However, his team is still working to create a timeline for lawmakers’ return and what they will take up.
Reeves, who has only called special sessions in his tenure as governor to pave the way for Amazon locating two multi-billion-dollar hyperscale data centers and an EV battery plant setting up shop in Mississippi, even said there may be more incentives to create to ensure other economic development projects move inside the state’s boundaries.
“Who knows? We’ve had a lot of successes in economic development over the past five years. We may have a reason to call a special session for an economic development deal in the next few months,” Reeves said, reminding that his tenure has seen a record $32 billion in private-sector investment.
As for the concern among some taxpayers that a special session costs roughly $100,000 per day to feed and house lawmakers, among travel and other costs, Reeves said he has no intentions of keeping lawmakers in Jackson for too long. To him, it could be a golden opportunity to get not only a fiscally conservative budget but additional work done for the betterment of Mississippians.
“I do not have any intention of calling a special session and forcing members to come to Jackson and stand there staring at each other or fight…for days or weeks or months. I don’t have any interest in that,” he said.
