Reeves willing to fund state agencies if lawmakers don’t pass budget

While Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said on May 1 that it’s generally accepted that he can fund state agencies established in the state’s constitution without a new state budget, he has indicated a willingness to take it a step further.

During a press conference at the Walter Siller’s building in Downtown Jackson, Reeves said he will not allow political infighting between the Republican-led House and Senate over the state’s $7 billion budget hold him back from funneling necessary funds to state agencies.

Lawmakers earlier this year failed to pass a new budget before ending the 2025 regular session early.

“Once you get beyond those agencies that are constitutional in nature, there’s some debate as to what authority the governor has,” Reeves said. “I’m going to tell you this. I’m not going to let agencies that are incredibly important to the future of Mississippi not spend money on July 1 just because there’s political infighting at the legislature. We’ve got to figure it out and navigate what that looks like.”

Mississippi has more than 100 state agencies, boards and governing authorities. Only a fraction of them are mandated in the state constitution. Among them are the Governor’s Office, the Office of State Auditor, the judicial branch, the Office of Attorney General and the Secretary of State’s Office.

Whether the governor has the authority to fund non-constitutionally mandated agencies without a state budget passed by the Legislature is not a new question.

Legislature not ready to pass budget: MS House, Senate still at impasse over state budget, governor says. What to know

When the Legislature last left Jackson, the state’s capital city, without a budget in 2009, Reeves said, former Gov. Haley Barbour faced a similar situation. He forced lawmakers back to Jackson and a budget was passed at nearly the last minute.

“It was 2009, I remember vividly when there was a major disagreement between the then Democrat-led House and the then Republican-led Senate, that led to literally a standstill all the way up until June 30, 2009,” Reeves said. “A lot of us did a lot of research and tried to figure out what could be run and what could not be run (without a state budget).”

In early April, the Legislature ended the 2025 regular session without passing a state budget after spending negotiations disintegrated.

Those negotiations soured for several reasons, but notably over a debate on whether to put more money into the state’s retirement system and to fund a local projects bill, which typically is funded with between $200 and $400 million.

As of May 1, Reeves confirmed that House and Senate leadership were unable to submit a budget proposal to his desk by an April 30 deadline, mostly due to bitter disagreements over a local projects bill.

House Speaker Jason Whitw, R-West, told the Clarion Ledger if the Senate could not agree on a projects bill, the House would still pass an operating budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which starts on July 1.

Reeves, White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann all said most of the state’s budget has been agreed upon between the House and Senate as of the afternoon of May 1.

Would lawmakers seek to amend mail-in absentee counting laws next year?

In April, the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office announced it was going to appeal a lawsuit with the national GOP to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect a state law allowing the receival and counting of mail-in absentee ballots for five days after a federal election.

While the lawsuit remains in limbo, state lawmakers have already been trying to strip the law as it applies to local and state elections.

In the 2025 regular session, an effort to establish a quasi-early voting program fell short at the last minute in the Senate after Sen. Jeff Tate, a Republican, held the legislation on a motion to reconsider it.

Early voting dies in Senate: Early voting dies in MS Legislature. Concerns arose over new voting program, likely veto

Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England, also a Republican, never challenged that motion, killing the bill.

Within that legislation was a provision to end the counting of mail-in absentee ballots for local and state elections, which was agreed upon by both England and House Elections Chairman Noah Sanford, R-Collins.

Sanford told the Clarion ledger on May 2 that he intends to continue working on both some iteration of early voting and stripping the law allowing the counting of mail-in absentee ballots after local and state election days.

“That law was a COVID-19 pandemic provision,” Sanford said. “I think that was where it was necessary was when there was such a backlog of everything… especially mail, and probably even in circuit clerks’ offices, and that’s not an issue anymore.”

Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS politics: Reeves will fund agencies if state budget is not passed