Lawmakers Return to Capital Today

Mississippi lawmakers return to Jackson today to resume the legislative session... but it could be a short stay at the capital because of disagreements on the state budget. MPB's Stephen Koranda reports.

Earlier this month legislators took a break to finalize details on next year's budget. After talks broke down Friday the chances of having a budget ready to vote on today look grim. Lt. Governor Phil Bryant said last week that if there wasn’t an agreement, lawmakers might need another break.

“I expect us to probably recess and come back at a later date. The worst thing we can do is spend two or three days or a week here looking at each other if there’s no agreement.”

One of the main obstacles lawmakers need to bypass is disagreement over saving some money from next year's budget for fiscal year 2011, because that's when federal stimulus dollars for Mississippi's Medicaid program will run out. Again, Lt. Governor Phil Bryant.

“That will take 60 to 90 million dollars and if we don’t have it we have a disaster on our hands.”

Senate negotiators are proposing saving at least 60 million dollars for fiscal year 2011. House members argue saving the money would cause layoffs in state government now. Cecil Brown of Jackson is one of the House Budget negotiators.

“We are not going to lay off highway patrolman, layoff nurses and doctors so we can save money for what may be a problem next year.”

The 2010 fiscal year begins July 1st.