Mississippi Senators passed the first round of state agency budgets, with many being cut by 6.5 percent. State revenues in April plummeted due to the statewide shutdown to prevent the spread of Covid 19. Republican Briggs Hopson of Vicksburg chairs the Appropriations Committee. He says they’ll have $5.4 billion for fiscal year 2021 which begins July 1. That’s $3 million less than estimated.
“I wanna say this over and over, this is first action. We will meet and continue to look at revenue numbers over the next few weeks to make sure we have the best information available,” said Hopson.
Hopson says some agencies will see smaller cuts--such as K-12 education, community colleges and universities because they’ll receive education enhancement funds and money from the federal CARES Act. Earlier this year the state’s prison system was rocked by violence and deaths. Democratic Senator Juan Barnett of Heidelberg, chairs the Corrections Committee. He questioned raising the department’s $312 million allocation.
“Would you be in agreement that we could sit down and talk about that to make sure that we can perhaps put some monies back there so that going forward we can address some of the issues that we’re having based upon the lawsuits and everything else that we’re facing as a state?” said Barnett.
Questions were also raised about layoffs or furloughs in state government. Funds from the CARES Act haven’t been allocated yet. There’s $550 million in the Rainy Day Fund. Hopson wants to wait until the end of the 2020 fiscal year -- June 30, to see if they have to use some of that money.
