Mississippi
Mississippi's 2024 legislative session: What to know – SuperTalk Mississippi
Another legislative session is officially upon us as lawmakers prepare to gavel in on Tuesday. With it being the start of a new term and a hodgepodge of hot-ticket topics still needing to be discussed, here’s what to know about this year’s session.
When is the session?
The 2024 session will officially begin on Tuesday, Jan. 2 at noon. Due to it being the start of a new term, the legislature will convene for 125 days rather than the usual 90 days, meaning lawmakers should wrap business up by or during the first week of May.
Who will be the new House speaker?
While Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann will be back leading the Senate, the House will need to take care of business in electing a new speaker. With longtime House Speaker Philip Gunn choosing not to seek reelection, Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White has emerged as the frontrunner for the open seat. The Republican from West, who already has the full support of others within the party, should be a shoo-in as GOP members maintained a supermajority in the House following this year’s elections.
“I am humbled to be unanimously selected as the Republican nominee for the Mississippi Speaker of the House by the Republican Caucus,” White said in a statement after the caucus unanimously decided to back him during a November meeting. “Mississippi has made tremendous strides over the previous 12 years of conservative Republican leadership and has greatly prospered under Speaker Philip Gunn. I appreciate the trust my fellow Republicans have now placed in me as the nominee for speaker.”
Even though Democrats will submit a nominee heading into the vote, the chances of White losing are slim to none. Rep. Manly Barton, a Republican from Moss Point, is expected to take over as speaker pro tempore.
What will lawmakers be discussing?
This is the big question. As always, thousands of bills will be filed with hundreds making it to the floor for a vote. While we can’t predict every topic that’s bound to come up for discussion, we do know a few.
Medicaid expansion
Medicaid expansion is going to be a topic that comes up and it might even be considered more so by lawmakers this year than in years past. However, the recent passing of a bulk of Gov. Tate Reeves’ reimbursement plan that could create up to $700 million for hospitals should take some heat off expansion.
“[The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] accepting that proposal was huge,” Sen. Jeremy England, a Republican from Vancleave, said. “That’s going to allow hospitals to get money that they didn’t otherwise have, and we don’t have to expand Medicaid to do that and that’s very important.”
While full-on Medicaid expansion might not be a top-ticket item for Republicans, other hospital-related bills are expected to be considered such as changing the state’s Certificate of Need laws and finding more funding for struggling hospitals.
Ballot initiative process
With Mississippi being the only state to ever have a ballot initiative process before taking it away, lawmakers are once again expected to try to restore citizens’ ability to propose laws and constitutional amendments.
After stripping the ballot initiative process in 2021, the House and Senate have failed to agree on the number of signatures needed for the people to propose a law or amendment. The House has consistently seen 106,000 as a suitable number while the Senate found 240,000 to be the most appropriate figure during last year’s session.
Sen. Daniel Sparks, a Republican from Belmont, believes if the two chambers can meet on a number, they need to monitor what people can propose. For example, he does not believe that people should be able to create initiative campaigns regarding Medicaid expansion, recreational marijuana, abortion, or anything that impacts the state budget.
“If you really sat down and listened, it has to do with marijuana, it has to do with abortion, it has to do with things that otherwise would not pass through the legislature,” Sparks said. “I think we need to think long and hard about what we’re doing and what that means if somebody is going to pass something that causes the state of Mississippi to impact its budget.”
House Minority Leader Robert Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, disagrees with censoring the people but would be willing to raise the number of signatures if it meant restoring the ballot initiative process.
“I don’t have a problem requiring more signatures… If it’s going to make it a more thorough process and more trustworthy process, that’s fine,” Johnson said. “What I don’t want to see is us limit what people can put on [the ballot]. I think voters in this state and the citizens of this state are smart enough to know what they want.”
Personal income tax
Even though Mississippi is in the middle of its largest tax phase-out in state history, Reeves continues to push for the full elimination of personal income tax.
“I pushed to eliminate the state income tax, and we’ve achieved the largest tax cut in state history,” Reeves said this summer. “And we can do more because this is Mississippi’s time.”
Lawmakers, on the other hand, might not be too sure about immediately eliminating the income tax as it is already expected to be phased out within the next 12 to 14 years. Some Republican legislators, such as Hosemann, have voiced support for lessening the nation’s highest grocery tax instead.
School Choice
One of the more controversial topics expected to come up, school choice is a conversation that has heated up in recent months.
The idea of implementing a program that allows families to use public money to access private schools beyond their local public school option, especially if they’re in a struggling district, is backed by some Republicans and opposed by most to all Democrats.
“I just want the taxpayer resources to stay with public education,” Johnson said. “I would not be in support of [school choice].”
Rather, Johnson would support an easier route for parents in low-rated districts to enroll their child in a neighboring district that has a better public school system.
“I think there’s room for that,” he continued. “If we put heads together and come up with a plan that would not cause districts to be unnecessarily adversely affected, I have looked at some ideas on that and I think that’s workable.”
Other topics in education that are bound to come up are the state’s public school funding formula and the possible implementation of free community college for post-secondary students.
PERS
One elephant in the room this legislative session will be addressing the financial stability of Mississippi’s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS).
Even though people are always wary of any conversations that have to do with PERS and potential changes, England said now is the time to resolve the system’s financial woes as all three primary financial metrics used to measure the program’s health are in red signal-light status.
“What we’ve got with PERS is a can that’s been kicked so far down the road, we can’t kick it any further,” England said. “I think we’re going to have to, at some point, just put a wedge or a stop on the timeline of PERS to allow the benefits we have now up to a certain point and then, we’re going to have to do something completely different moving forward.”
Of the options the legislature may consider regarding PERS, included is increasing the employer contribution rate, creating a new retirement tier, transferring funds from the state’s reserves, increasing the target rate of return on assets, increasing the employee contribution rate, adjusting benefits, or a combination of any of these.
“It’s going to be a tough problem, and there are going to be a lot of talks on them,” England continued. “I’m ready to have them. We’ve got to get in and jump into this headfirst now.
GEORGE COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX) — A George County High School senior is dead after an SUV hit him while bicycling on Highway 26 Friday night.
Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) officials said at 8:15 p.m. the MHP responded to a fatal crash on Highway 26 in George County.
Those officials said a Ford SUV traveling west on Highway 26 collided with 18-year-old Tyree Bradley of McLain, Mississippi, who was bicycling.
Bradley was fatally injured and died at the scene, MHP officials said.
The crash remains under investigation by the MHP.
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Copyright 2026 WLOX. All rights reserved.
Some losses feel like they drag on longer than the box score suggests, and Mississippi State’s 3-1 opener at Texas A&M fits that category.
It wasn’t a blowout. It wasn’t a game where the Bulldogs looked outmatched.
It was just one of those nights where the early mistakes stuck around and the offense never quite found the swing that could shake them loose.
The frustrating part is how quickly the hole formed. Two solo homers and a wild pitch in the first two innings put Mississippi State behind 3-0, and that was basically the ballgame.
Against a top tier SEC team on the road, spotting three runs that early is a tough ask. The Bulldogs didn’t fold, but they also didn’t cash in when the door cracked open.
“I liked our fight. I think we’re really just working through some things offensively, and trying to stay together,” Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said. “This team still believes, and we’re going to battle and fight every chance we get, and I think I saw a lot of that. I’m encouraged for what that means for us moving forward, but, you know, they’re a good hitting team, and we’ve got to be able to shut them down early. I don’t think Peja [Goold] had her best stuff, but she continued to battle out there and find ways to get outs.”
They had chances. Two runners stranded in the fifth. Two more in the sixth. Another in the seventh. Des Rivera finally got the Bulldogs on the board with an RBI single, but the big hit that usually shows up for this lineup never arrived.
It wasn’t a lack of traffic. It was a lack of finish.
If there was a bright spot, it came from the bullpen. Delainey Everett gave Mississippi State exactly what it needed after the rocky start.
“That was just a huge relief appearance by Delaney to keep us in it,” Ricketts said. “It’s really good to have her back and healthy these last few weeks because these are the moments where we really need her and rely on her. We know that she’s going to be a big part of the remainder of the season going forward as well.”
Three hitless innings, one baserunner, and a reminder that she’s quietly putting together a strong stretch.
There were individual positives too. Nadia Barbary keeps climbing the doubles list. Kiarra Sells keeps finding ways on base.
But the bigger picture is simple. Mississippi State is now 6-10 in the SEC, and the margin for error is shrinking. Nights like this one are the difference between climbing back into the race and staying stuck in the middle.
They get another shot this morning with the schedule bumped up for weather. The formula isn’t complicated.
Clean up the early innings, keep getting quality relief, and find one or two timely swings. The Bulldogs didn’t get them Friday. They’ll need them today.
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Mississippi
Mississippi farmers struggle through years without profit as war with Iran deepens crisis
YAZOO COUNTY, Miss. — Mississippi Delta farmers are facing another expensive planting season as fertilizer and fuel costs continue to climb.
Farmers in Yazoo and Sharkey counties, Clay Adcock and Jeffrey Mitchell, said it has been years since their crops turned a real profit.
“I guess it would be since 2022,” Adcock said.
“Last 2.5 to three years since we had a very profitable year,” Mitchell said.
Rising input costs squeeze farmers
Adcock said he was paying $300 per ton of fertilizer before the war with Iran broke out. He is now paying double for the same amount. Mitchell saw similar spikes.
“Fertilizer was up 25% before the Iranian conflict already,” Mitchell said. “Then since that started Diesel fuel is up 40% in the last six months.”
Survey and research from the American Farm Bureau show they are not the only ones feeling the pinch.
“We’ve got trouble with the farming community,” Adcock said. “And you can see that with the bankruptcies that are there and no young farmers that can afford the capital to get started.”
Mitchell said today’s farmers face a shrinking industry of suppliers. 75% of all fertilizer in the U.S. comes from four companies: Yara USA, CF Industries, Nutrien and Koch Industries.
“With the world market on fertilizer, pretty much everyone has the same price,” Mitchell said. “It’s not like you can go to store B, get a better price.”
forces
Oil and natural gas cut off in the Strait of Hormuz forces energy companies worldwide to compete for less supply. The spike in costs passes on to fertilizer producers, who pass higher prices on to distributors, leaving family farms at the end of the line with the most expensive bills.
“They deliver it to us and we’re at their mercy,” Adcock said.
Adcock said he would like to see more regulation to even the playing field among fertilizer companies and prevent potential price gouging.
“There should be guiderails in place to keep fertilizer producers within a range and if they get out of that range it throws up red flags as they do in the SEC with stocks,” Adcock said. “Have some consistency in our business.”
Mitchell said the costs will circle back to consumers at the store. The spike in diesel also increases the cost of transporting finished crops after harvest to stores.
“Everything will be higher once it gets to Kroger or Wal-Mart or wherever,” Mitchell said. “They’ll just pass it onto consumers.”
It is too early to tell what the final prices will look like once harvest season is over. Each farmer said one way consumers can help is to buy as much produce as possible directly from farmers at markets and buy American items.
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