Mississippi lawmakers try to finish Marine Resources budget

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Legislature is returning to the Capitol to try to set a spending plan for the state Department of Marine Resources, weeks after the budget year started.

The House and Senate convene at 4 p.m. Monday, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said he expects members to quickly adopt the agency's budget.

“We knew that we could essentially run the agency in July and August by executive action, but once we get toward the end of August that would be a little more challenging,” Reeves said Monday.

The state budget year began July 1. House and Senate negotiations over the Marine Resources budget stalled in late June and again in early August over questions about who has the authority to spend millions of dollars the state receives for oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the past, the governor has controlled the money. But Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn said Aug. 11 that the Mississippi Constitution makes clear that legislators have the power to set budgets.

WLOX-TV reported that the Department of Marine Resources' ability to perform its duties and pay employees would be threatened if a compromise is not reached by the end of this month. All 175 employees would be subject to furloughs beginning Sept. 1. The department said in a memo that its Marine Patrol is fully staffed through Aug. 31 but is operating on a “minimal budget.”

The department's budget for the year that ended June 30 was $29.5 million. Just over $1 million of that came from the state's general fund. The rest came from the federal government or from other sources such as saltwater fishing licenses and off-road fuel taxes.

Legislators were meeting on the same day two storms were threatening to bring heavy rain and damaging winds to coastal areas in Mississippi and other states. Tropical Storm Marco was south of Louisiana on Monday. Tropical Storm Laura was near Cuba and was projected to develop into a hurricane as it moves northward through the Gulf of Mexico.

“The Department of Marine Resources plays a critical role in hurricane preparedness as well as hurricane response," Reeves said Monday. "They do an excellent job. Their law enforcement personnel step up every single time that we have an issue.”