Mississippi lawmakers agreed this week to provide about $94.6 million in state funding for the Department of Human Services as part of a $1.6 billion budget package, according to the conference report for House Bill 1909.
The appropriation includes $3.3 million for critical salaries, $8.7 million in vacancy funding, $5.1 million for a computer program capital expense and $2 million for an “IT success project,” State Rep. Clay Deweese, R, said on the House floor. The conference report shows state funding rose about $1.7 million from the previous year. “We’re honored to receive some level funding, and we’re obviously thankful to the Legislature for the work they did to get us this appropriation,” DHS Chief Communications Officer Mark Jones told the Magnolia Tribune.
The bill also allows the department to demolish cottages at the Oakley Youth Development Center and create an adolescent offender pilot program. Lawmakers debated whether $15 million that had been used for child-care assistance should be restored. State Rep. Zakiya Summers, D, sought to recommit the bill to find the money; her motion failed 39-76. “Parents are not going to be able to go to work. Employers will be impacted,” Summers said on the House floor.
Lawmakers and senators also discussed potential state costs tied to new federal rules for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program error rates. Senate Appropriations Chairman Briggs Hopson, R, said projections show Mississippi would owe about $40 million if error rates range from 6% to 8%, $80 million for 8% to 10% and about $120 million if rates exceed 10%. Sen. Daniel Sparks, R, said the Senate inserted language in House Bill 1772 to return to simplified reporting to try to keep error rates low. “Which we were never above the 6% designated error rate prior to making that change and we’ve never been below it since then,” Sparks said.
State Rep. Samuel Creekmore, R, said the House removed the simplified-reporting language from the HB 1772 conference report before passing it unanimously; the Senate had not acted on that report as of press time. Jones said the department will receive a deficit appropriation to cover contracts for income verification services through HB 1940, which Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
