Senate passes deficit appropriations bills; Medicaid requests $35 million
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Summary
The Mississippi Senate passed two appropriation bills by morning roll call. Sponsor remarks on SB 3104 outlined numerous line items — including litigation expenses, a $2.475 million Snap Nurse settlement, capital repairs and a $35 million Medicaid deficit request for FY2026–27 — and the chamber tabled a motion to reconsider an IHL measure after debate on performance metrics.
The Mississippi Senate advanced several appropriation measures, passing Senate Bill 3104 and Senate Bill 3105 by use of the morning roll call and moving on to other calendar business.
On the floor, the sponsor explained SB 3104 as a deficit and cleanup bill that includes: attorney general payments tied to wrongful incarceration awards and related attorney fees; several litigation-monitoring line items (examples cited and each shown as approximately $100,000 for named cases); a $2,475,000 settlement payment related to a MEMA dispute with a vendor (Snap Nurse); a request from Medicaid for approximately $35,000,000 to carry the program through fiscal year 2026 into FY2027; capital expense funds including $4,000,000 proposed for remediation and relocation related to the Bolton Building on the coast; pass-through special funds for Administrative Office of Courts items (including $796,572 for judicial appointments and terminal leave); $5,309,560 for Department of Marine Resources titling projects; $4,500,000 to the Department of Human Services for income-verification software; and other special-fund and capital allocations identified in the bill.
Senator Sparks spoke during a subsequent motion to table a motion to reconsider an IHL general support bill (SB 3053), urging that the legislature modernize performance metrics and noting federal actions that could affect institutions’ access to federal student aid. After debate, the motion to table the motion to reconsider was adopted.
For SB 3104 the transcript records a morning-roll-call procedure and notes a few senators recorded as voting 'no' by name (the transcript records Senator McLindon and Senator Chisholm among those voting no); the clerk recorded the bill as passed by the roll-call procedure. SB 3105, a placeholder appropriation vehicle with zeros entered to keep it available for potential future deficits, was also passed by the usual motion.
The Senate then handled a series of committee announcements and moved into recess until 5:00 p.m., or adjournment until 10:00 a.m. the next day.
