Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources now closed as Jackson fights over funding
July 4 is probably the biggest weekend on the water in South Mississippi, but on July 1 the state Department of Marine Resources is shut down as legislators in Jackson fight over funding for the agency.
Wednesday was the first day of the new fiscal year, and without the appropriations bill passed by the state Senate and House, the agency can’t operate.
Gov. Tate Reeves tweeted Wednesday morning: “The legislature is locked in a fight over the Dept of Marine Resources. No budget. I support Senate position! House leaders are dug in on earmarking favored projects with recovery funds—huge change. New fiscal year starts now. With no budget, DMR can’t operate. It has shut down.”
A call to the DMR office in Biloxi confirmed the agency is closed and Reeves said in his afternoon press conference, “It’s all over a political fight between the House and the Senate.”
Reeves said the absolute worst thing that could happen is there would be a boating accident today and no DMR or its assets available to respond to it.
“The vast majority of state government does not have a signed appropriations bill,” Reeves said, which is something he said hasn’t happened before in his 17 years in state government.
As of Tuesday night, with the exception of the Cares Act bills, he said all but two budgets for state agencies have been signed.
Just because the bills are passed, Reeves said he won’t automatically sign them without reading what the House and Senate passed.
“I’m hoping they didn’t put any pet projects into their bills,” he said, which might cause him to not be able to sign the funding bills.
Reeves sent another tweet Wednesday saying “The legislature is also locked in a dispute over the Secretary of State’s budget. I support the House position. Give first year SOS Watson the tools he needs to implement federal mandates. Let’s get these two budgets done so the legislature can go home!”
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 3:16 PM.
