Mississippi legislators return to finish last bit of budget

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators returned to the Capitol on Monday to finish the final parts of a state spending plan for the budget year that began July 1.

Republican Gov. Tate Reeves on July 8 vetoed big parts of the education budget because legislators did not fund a bonus pay program for teachers in schools that either maintain high academic performance or show significant improvement.

Overriding a governor’s veto takes a two-thirds majority of both the House and the Senate.

The House voted 109-7 to override Reeves’ veto of the education bill, and senators were expected to vote for the override later Monday.

Legislators were working on a separate bill to fund the bonus pay for teachers.

They also were working to set a budget for the state Department of Marine Resources. Final talks on the department’s budget stalled just before legislators left the Capitol on July 1 because the House and Senate clashed over how to spend $40 million a year that the state receives from oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reeves also vetoed parts of a bill that allocated federal relief money for the coronavirus pandemic, but legislators were not expected to try to override that action. Instead, a fight over the issue will move forward in the courts.

House Speaker Philip Gunn and Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White, who are both Republican, sued Reeves last week, arguing that his action was improper because the governor cannot veto portions of budget bills that deal with conditions for how money is spent.

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