The 2026 Mississippi legislative session has come to an end, at least for now.
The House of Representatives and Senate gaveled in and quickly gaveled out on Good Friday, with each chamber’s leadership leaving the door open for a potential return to the state capitol this year. Both adjourned sine die pursuant to House Concurrent Resolution 64, a measure to extend the regular session on paper. The resolution calls on both chambers to reconvene in Jackson on April 15 unless House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann agree it’s unnecessary.
“We’ll probably see you again,” Hosemann said on the floor, suggesting that lawmakers will return to Jackson to attend to unfinished business in a couple of weeks.
Unlike last year, legislators passed a budget before concluding the regular session, allowing them to wrap up their affairs without a special session to ensure state agencies were funded. This year, the legislature approved a budget just south of $7.4 billion with major chunks of the funding going to education and healthcare.
Lawmakers began 2026 “on a sprint,” per Hosemann, with both chambers’ leadership working quickly to advance their agendas. What began as a sprint turned into a bit of an impasse in the middle of the session, as apparent infighting among Republican officials over school choice stymied progress and caused many bills to die.
Toward the end of the session, however, differences were seemingly put to the side. Lawmakers worked together, largely in conference, on hot-button issues like giving teachers a pay raise, modifying the current structure of the public employees’ retirement system, and offering financial relief to cities and counties impacted by Winter Storm Fern, among other items.
“The work starts back promptly,” Hosemann said. “We started off on a sprint, slowed down in the middle, and sprinted to the finish much like any other race. You were successful in so many of your endeavors. We still have a lot of work to do next year — all the committee meetings that we’re going to do this year, and setting the tone to continue the progress forward that our state is enjoying every day.”
If lawmakers do return to the capitol, as Hosemann suggested would be the case, it would be to address ancillary issues that were not resolved during the regular session. Gov. Tate Reeves has also publicly mulled calling a special session on expanding K-12 school choice options through streamlining public-to-public transfers and allowing public money to be used for private-school tuition.