JACKSON - Mississippi lawmakers are pressing ahead with drawing up a state budget even as they struggle to find sources for the estimated $170 million to fill in gaps.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Charlie Capps, D-Cleveland, said lawmakers have not agreed on where to get the extra money.
Lawmakers have previously approved borrowing from special fund agencies, which collect money through specific taxes or fees, to prop up the budget.
"That fiscal plan has fallen apart. Sen. (Jack) Gordon and I have been working on putting it back together. We are moving ahead under the assumption that we will find the money," Capps said.
Gordon, D-Okolona, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he was optimistic the issues could be resolved and the budget passed on time.
Budget writers must have a spending plan agreed upon by Saturday night. Both houses intend to work Sunday to get the budget passed.
The new fiscal year begins July 1.
Progress has been hurt by a slowdown in the economy which impacts tax collections on which a budget is based.
The $3.5 billion spending plan must be formally adopted by Monday, and the three-month legislative session is set to end April 6.
Capps and Gordon told appropriations committees members Thursday to wrap up individual agency spending as quickly as possible.
At the urging of Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, legislators decided in February to spend 62 percent of the budget on all levels of education, from kindergarten through college.
Lawmakers said that means the remaining needs - from prisons to highways to mental health - are competing for fewer dollars.
In other action Thursday, the state Senate passed a bill to allow the city of Hattiesburg and Forrest and Lamar counties to help the University of Southern Mississippi expand athletic facilities, including the football stadium.
USM officials want to raise $40 million. Most of the money - about $28 million - would come from the sale of premium stadium seats. That would leave about $12 million that USM officials want the local governments to assist in finding.
The bill does not commit any local government to spending money.
The bill now goes to the House.
Also Thursday, Gov. Ronnie Musgrove signed into law a bill making it illegal to install any object other than an air bag where a vehicle's air bag should be.
Backers said they were trying to put a dent into the trafficking of stolen air bags, which when installed in a vehicle different that the one for which it was manufactured can malfunction. The bill takes effect July 1.
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