Appropriations subcommittee advances deficit-appropriation bill citing lawsuits, corrections and child-placement costs

The Senate appropriations subcommittee advanced Senate Bill 3054, a deficit-appropriation measure that the committee chair described as the panel’s “first stab” at funding several ongoing lawsuits and program deficits, including legal claims against state agencies, corrections contract costs and child protective services placements.

The bill lists a number of specific requests and continuing obligations. Section 1 includes approximately $156,842 for the attorney general’s office broken into five items, including $6,224 to cover a Superfund-site cleanup in Gulfport and a $25,000 claim by a student at the Mississippi School for the Deaf and the Blind. Two statutory wrongful-incarceration claims of $50,000 each were also included. Other Section 1 items mentioned a Hinds County…