Appropriations committee advances suite of budget, local-project and treasury bills

The Mississippi Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a package of budget and finance bills and committee substitutes during a session that included discussion of agency fee adjustments, transfers of deobligated federal funds and a proposal to raise the state's rainy day reserve.

Senators approved the annual transfer measure, a real estate commission fee change, a provision sending deobligated American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT), a committee substitute correcting and reallocating last year's local project appropriations, a bill to raise the state rainy day fund to 15 percent from 10 percent, changes to several capital and agency funds, and the State Treasury Efficiency and Transparency Act.

Committee members described the annual transfer bill (Senate Bill 2146) as a housekeeping measure that "brings forward all the code sections that we'll need to craft the budget this year," including references to the 2 percent set-aside, the rainy day fund, the working cash stabilization fund, the general fund, the capital expense fund and the budget contingency fund. Senator Seymour moved that the bill's title was sufficient; the motion passed.

Senators also approved Senate Bill 2086, which removes a repealer tied to a recent reduction in the real estate commission's application fee. The sponsor said the commission had accumulated a large cash balance, cut application fees, begun covering fingerprinting costs for license renewals and…