JACKSON, Miss. -- The state Senate's minority leader said Wednesday he hopes Gov. Phil Bryant allows the Legislature to consider a bond bill in the upcoming special session.
Via social media, the Republican governor announced late Tuesday he would call a special session on June 5 to take up the three budget bills that died during the 2017 regular session that ended in late March.
Bryant is yet to issue the official proclamation, and he has yet to release the call (agenda) for the special session.
Bill Stone, D-Holly Springs, said he's hoping to have some type of bond bill included among the other items that need to be taken care of during the session.
"I would like to see that especially for county roads and bridges," said the state Senate's minority leader.
The bond bill also died during the 2017 session in a dispute between the House and Senate leaders over the size of the package.
In addition to a bond package, Stone said House Democratic leader David Baria of Bay St. Louis and Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes, D-Gulfport, chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, have joined him in sending a letter to Bryant asking him to include in the special session legislation that the governor vetoed after the session ended.
The legislation, proposed by the Mississippi Re-entry Council, which include judges, prosecutors and others, was an effort to help former inmates have a successful return to the general population. It addressed several issues, such as stating that the non-payment of a fine would not automatically result in the offender being locked up.
The governor said the bill had "good intentions." But, apparently because of a typographical error involving a legal code section, the bill also would have allowed habitual offenders to be eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of their sentence.
"Regardless of whether this language was a technical error or not, habitual offenders should not be parole-eligible after only serving a small portion of their sentence," the governor wrote in his veto message
"We could fix that typo quickly in a special session," said Stone, who added the bill had strong support in both chambers.
The Legislature normally passes a bond bill each session to finance long-term construction projects, such as on university campuses and for state office buildings. Often the bond bill provides funds for major repairs of state-owned buildings. That could especially be important this year since nearly every state agency and university and community college absorbed major budget cuts and have limited, if any, funds for renovations and repairs.
Often, the bond bill provides funds for local transportation needs.
Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who presides over the Senate, said through a spokesperson he hopes the special session deals only with the three budget bills.
Reeves spokeswoman Laura Hipp, said, "Lt. Gov. Reeves recognizes that Gov. Bryant, and only Gov. Bryant, has the constitutional responsibility to determine the issues to be included in the call.
"Having said that, the special session should only address the appropriation bills, and legislators should quickly pass the budget agreement that the House conferees signed during the regular session."
The office of House Speaker Philip Gunn's said the speaker would have no statement.
Everyone seems in agreement that the governor will include the budgets for the office of Attorney General Jim Hood, for the Department of Transportation and for the state Aid Road Program in the special session agenda.
The two transportation budgets were killed by House members, Gunn said at the time, to try to convince the Senate leaders to consider some of their proposals to provide additional money for transportation needs.
The House's primary proposal was to direct a certain percentage of internet sales tax collections to transportation needs.
The budget for the office of Attorney General was killed because of a disagreement about language directing Attorney General Jim Hood to timely notify the Legislature of funds received from lawsuit settlements .
There has been speculation that the special session might include a proposal to enact the lottery and to rewrite the state's education funding formula.
Either of those proposals would most likely significantly increase the length of the special session.
