The Mississippi Legislature’s 2025 session is over, but lawmakers could soon return to work in a special session after the House and Senate failed to adopt a budget before the regular session ended on April 3. Gov. Tate Reeves will have to call lawmakers into a special session ahead of the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
After the House ended the session on April 2 and the Senate followed suit on April 3, the governor said that he would bring the Legislature back by June 30, although he did not offer a specific date.
“I am confident that the House and Senate will work together to 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 (regarding the budget),” Reeves said during an April 3 press conference at the Walter Sillers building in downtown Jackson.
House and Senate Each Blame the Other
Lawmakers failed to adopt a budget after the House and Senate could not reach an agreement on the State’s finances. House Speaker Jason White, R-West, and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, both blamed the other chamber.
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Before concluding the session on April 2, the House unanimously passed a resolution to extend the legislative session until April 11 and suspend deadlines for appropriations bills that had died on legislative deadlines at the end of March. White told reporters on April 2 that the House was giving the Senate “one more attempt” to come together to adopt a budget.
The speaker authored the resolution and put a deadline for his proposals for 5 p.m. on April 2 to give the Senate a chance to agree to the resolution so that the two chambers could work out a budget and engage in discussions about tax cuts and the Public Employees’ Retirement System funding. The Senate concluded its business for the day on April 2 without addressing the House’s resolution.
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