MS Legislature goes late into night on last day to finalize the budget, see what's in it

At nearly 2 a.m. Saturday, the Mississippi Legislature finally passed its last budget bill and adjourned sine die, allowing lawmakers to head home, at least for the time being.

The last week of session, while it included other important moments such as debates over HB 1020, primarily focused on the state budget for next fiscal year.

Here's everything you need to know.

The big numbers

Here's the big number: $7.615 billion. That will be the total state support for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

It is less than the overall operating budget for last year, but that year's budget included more than $1.5 billion in federal funds, mostly from COVID-19 relief. This year's includes less than $51 million in Gulf Coast Restoration Funds, and no COVID-19 funds.

When those federal funds are removed from both last year and this year, the budget passed Saturday is larger than last year's record budget, making it the largest state contribution in Mississippi history.

Public Education Funding

One of the main sticking points that prolonged the session was the level at which to fund Mississippi's public schools.

The Mississippi Senate, led by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, had unanimously passed a plan to make changes to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program formula and then provide $181 million to fully fund that program for the first time in more than 15 years. It did not receive a vote in the House.

Senate leaders, though, continued to push for an increase in funding compared to last year, and ended up securing a roughly $120 million increase. Rather than increase funding for the formula, as Senate leaders had initially proposed, the agreement they reached with the House would see MAEP funded at a slightly higher level than last year, and the rest of the increase would be distributed to schools directly based on Average Daily Enrollment.

The total budget for MAEP next fiscal year will be about $2.4 billion. That combined with the $120 million direct contribution leaves an approximately $161 million hole between what was appropriated and the number the current formula calls for.

The public education budget was nearly complete Friday afternoon, when Sen. Barbara Blackmon, D-Jackson, noticed something was wrong. An unknown lawmaker had included $300,000 for a virtual reality education company that is currently seeking $795,000 from related to the state's welfare fraud scandal. The company, Lobaki Inc., was later removed from the education budget, and members of both chambers could not say who added the particular line item, or how it went unnoticed until it was nearly passed.

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Rural Hospitals

With at least 28 of the state's rural hospitals in danger of closing, according to the state health officer, providing support was one of the key goals of the 2023 session for leaders of both chambers and parties.

In the budget, that supports is shown in a $104 million bailout, which will see direct grants given to hospitals in need in exchange for their participation in an information collection and sharing program that could inform future healthcare legislation.

There was little to no serious discussion of expanding Medicaid, a move that many healthcare advocates have called for and one that would bring in more than $1 billion from the federal government.

Tornado Relief

The 2023 budget will include $18.5 million in state funding for the tornadoes that swept across the state last week and devastated towns like Rolling Fork and Amory.

That includes $7 million for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency in order to account for the amount it needs to fully match significant federal funds that are being used to assist with cleanup and recovery. Three million dollars will go to impacted schools, and $1.5 million will go to hospitals, while $7 million will go to housing.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, represents part of the impacted area and led budget negotiations for his chamber. He said he had conversations with state agency leaders and local officials, and he believes the $18.5 million will be enough to meet the state's needs for the response.

"We wanted to make sure we did what they thought we should do in this budget," Hopson said.

Damage assessments on the ground are still ongoing. If more funds are needed, Hopson expects either a special session to be called or for the legislature to come back next session and quickly pass funding in January.

"If anything got worse, I suspect the governor would call us in for a special session," Hopson said.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS Legislature wraps up 2023 session with final budget figures announced