Jackson Jambalaya

 The city of Jackson won bigly are Governor Tate Reeves approved most of the projects the Legislature funded for the capitol city in SB #2189.  The Christmas Tree bill provided $400 million for projects across the state.  

The bill funded the Jackson projects posted below: 

 $13 million: LeFleur's Bluff improvements

$750,000 for road & infrastructure improvements in NW Jackson

$500,000 (County): sewer & drainage improvements in Presidential Hills

$400,000 for improvements at Westside Community Center

$750,000 for Parham Bridges Park (CCID)

$350,000: Mississippi Symphony Orchestra for purchase & replacement of musical instruments in schools

$5 million: Mississippi Children's Museum 

$650,000: Mississippi Museum of Art projects & exhibits

$500,000: Jackson airport infrastructure repair

$4 million: assist Jackson in paying matching funds for federal highway grants for Woodrow Wilson, Medgar Evers Boulevard, and McDowell Road 

$200,000: Repaving Hanging Moss from Northside Dr. to Nakoma Dr. 

$250,000: Upgrades to Pete Brown Golf Facility

$70,000: Sykes Park 

$100,000 (County): install security cameras for Norwood, Woodlea, Valley North, Lakeover, Northhgate

$10 million: JSU housing project

However, the Governor rejected the funding for the airport, security cameras, and Pete Brown Jackson Municipal Golf Course.  Governor Reeves justified the use of his line-item veto on Facebook: 

I am a Republican.

I am for LESS government…not duplicative programs!

I am for infrastructure investments - as that is a core function of government.

I am NOT for spending YOUR money on golf courses.

I am not for giving your money away to any entity that has wasted millions on lawyer fees that could have been spent on infrastructure improvements - especially if that lawsuit is against the state of Mississippi!

I am NOT for giving away your money to private companies with no increased job requirements, no metrics and no accountability measures in place.

I ran for Treasurer on these principles 23 years ago….

And - all these years later - these are the same principles I adhere to as Governor of the greatest state in America!

All in all, the Governor vetoed less than $1 million in of the $30+ million in projects for the Jackson area.  A good day for Jackson.  

Kingfish note: If one wants to dig through the weeds, the Governor's partial veto message provides more information: 

 More than 120 years ago, the Mississippi Supreme Court recognized that every appropriations bill “has three essential parts:  The purpose of the bill, the sum appropriated for the purpose, and the conditions upon which the appropriation shall become available.”  State v. Holder, 23 So. 643, 645 (1898).  This unassailable statement of law is rooted in two provisions contained in the Mississippi Constitution of 1890:

Article 4, Section 63.  Maximum sum fixed in appropriation bill.  No appropriation bill shall be passed by the Legislature which does not fix definitely the maximum sum thereby authorized to be drawn from the treasury.

Article 4, Section 69.  Contents of appropriation bills.  General appropriation bills shall contain only the appropriations to defray the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the government; to pay interest on state bonds, and to support the common schools. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject. Legislation shall not be engrafted on the appropriation bills, but the same may prescribe the conditions on which the money may be drawn, and for what purposes paid.

Further, the Mississippi Supreme Court has recognized the Governor’s line-item veto authority as an “exercise of the authority endowed the office of the Governor by the people of Mississippi in our Constitution.”  Reeves v. Gunn, 307 So.3d 436, 439-442 (Miss. 2020).  Specifically, Article 4, Section 73 of the Mississippi Constitution provides to the Governor the inviolate right to “veto parts of any appropriation bill, and approve parts of the same, the portions approved shall be law.”   In construing this provision, the Mississippi Supreme Court held:  

The true meaning of section 73 is that an appropriation bill made up of several parts (that is, distinct appropriations), different, separable, each complete without the other, which may be taken from the bill without affecting the others, which may be separated into different parts complete in themselves, may be approved, and become law in accordance with the legislative will, while others of like character may be disapproved, and put before the legislature again, dissociated from the other appropriations.  

Holder, 23 So. at 645.

This interpretation of the Governor’s Article 4, Section 73 line-item veto authority was recently reaffirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court in Reeves v. Gunn:

The omnibus characteristics of House Bill 1782 dictate today's result. The monies were appropriated to multiple, distinct, and separate entities, thus they were multiple separate appropriations as expounded upon in Holder.  The Governor's partial veto struck two appropriations, $2 million to Tate County and $6 million to MAGnet Community Health Disparity Program.  The removal of these appropriations did not affect any other appropriations in the bill. The partial veto properly removed parts that could “be taken from the bill without affecting the others, which [could] be separated into different parts complete in themselves ....”  Holder, 23 So. at 645.   Accordingly we reverse the judgment of the chancery court, and we hold the partial vetoes authoritative.  

Reeves v. Gunn, 307 So.3d at 441-42.  In reaching this holding, the Mississippi Supreme Court rejected arguments that attempted to elevate form over substance and affirmed the rule of law that when a bill appropriates monies to multiple distinct and separate entities, each appropriation is separate and subject to the Governor’s line-item veto authority. 

                With this Constitutional framework in mind, I will now turn to Senate Bill 2189.  SB 2189 authorizes the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration to “disburse” over $400,000,000 of state funds out of various treasury accounts to hundreds of entities, including Institutions of Higher Learning, Community Colleges, the Bureau of Building for various building projects, counties, cities, towns, communities, villages and private entities across the State of Mississippi.  Section 4 of the bill appropriates state funds out of the treasury to more than 250 “Local Improvements Projects”.  By way of example, Line 290-292 of SB 2189 states as follows:  “To assist Prentiss County in paying costs associated with repairs and renovations to Prentiss County courthouse. . . . . . . . . $750,000.000.”  

Given the fact that Senate Bill 2189 authorizes the disbursement of more than $400,000.000 in state funds out of the treasure for hundreds of specific purposes, one would assume that the Legislature would have designated it as an appropriations bill and passed it in accordance with the Constitutional deadlines for appropriation bills.  But that was not the case.  As confirmed by the Legislative website, the Mississippi Legislature applied the deadlines for a general bill to SB 2189.  https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/history/SB/SB2189.xml.  Further, Senate Bill 3051, the appropriations bill for the Department of Finance and Administration confirms that the Legislature considers SB 2189 to be a general bill:  “The disbursements of funds by the Department of Finance and Admiration under the provision of general bill, Senate Bill No. 2189, 2026 Regular Session, are made pursuant to the authority granted to the department to spend those funds by this appropriation bill.”  The only rational explanation for this constitutional ruse is to disguise a thinly veiled attempt to avoid my Article 4, Section 73 line-item veto authority.  

There is no provision of the Mississippi Constitution that authorizes the Legislature to separate the three essential parts of an appropriation bill--the sum that may be drawn from the treasury, the purpose, and the conditions—in an attempt shield each separate, distinct and complete appropriation from Executive review.  As recently reaffirmed by the Mississippi Supreme Court, my authority to exercise the line-item veto is an “authority endowed the office of the Governor by the people of Mississippi in our Constitution.”  Reeves v. Gunn, So.3d at 442.  Moreover, this drafting gamesmanship is just the latest iteration of the Legislature’s attempts to immunize the appropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds from Executive review.  Previous attempts were made in House Bill 1353 (2022 Regular Session) with the 2022 Local Projects Bill, and House Bill 603 (2023 Regular Session) with the 2023 Local Projects Bill, and in each instance, I exercised my Article 4, Section 73 authority to line-item separate, distinct and complete appropriations contained therein.  In both prior instances, the Legislature made no attempt to override these line-item vetoes or otherwise call into question the legality of the use of my constitutional authority.  Thus, because Senate Bill 2189 unquestionably authorizes the disbursement of over $400,000,000 from the treasury for hundreds of purposes, it is an appropriations bill subject to line-item veto.