Legislature fails in budget talks

JACKSON -- After four days of on-again, off-again negotiations, Mississippi legislators adjourned Friday without reaching agreement on a budget for the 2010 fiscal year that begins July 1.

House and Senate budget negotiators will continue talks in hopes of reaching agreement for legislators to consider when they return to the Capitol at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Gov. Haley Barbour said in a statement Friday afternoon that if legislators don't agree on a budget Wednesday, the last day of the session, he will call a special session when they have something ready.

The Senate adjourned at 2:05 p.m. with its presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, praising the three members of each house who have negotiated off and on since they were appointed about a month ago. Still, no agreement was reached.

Legislators were in session from Tuesday through Friday as budget negotiators, or conferees, held negotiations.

Restless legislators had grumbled throughout the week about having little to do while the talks continued.

"Is there any use of us staying around here?" Sen. Terry Brown, R-Columbus, asked Bryant Friday.

"I said yesterday there was no reason to stay around here," Bryant answered.

By 2 p.m., Bryant told senators there was no use to remain in session with no budget agreement in sight.

"The Senate will continue to stand firm on conservative fiscal responsibility," Bryant said in a statement released after the session ended.

"The Senate conferees will continue to negotiate in good faith with the House, but keeping the whole membership here is a waste of taxpayer money and accomplishes nothing," he said.

Bryant noted that the regular legislative session had been extended beyond its normal 90 days to June 3.

At that point, legislators can approve another extension or return in a special session called by the governor. In that case, legislators could consider only the matters the governor orders.

Senators had completed most of their work by Friday morning, but House members spentd much of the day considering minor bills such as commending sports teams and honoring local public officials.

The House adjourned less than 30 minutes later.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the (budget) conferees are still meeting, and they're not ready for us to have a positive report," said House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi.

"I'm not trying to be mean and keep you around here anymore."

The chief House negotiator, Appropriations Committee chairman Johnny Stringer, D-Montrose, said in a statement that he would work through the recess if "I have someone to negotiate with."

Senate Appropriations Committee vice chairman Doug Davis, R-Hernando, and one of the Senate conferees, said talks would continue over the weekend.

After the House adjourned, McCoy said disagreements between the House and Senate, along with the governor, on Medicaid funding continues to hang up the negotiations.

"Something circling somewhere around Medicaid is the problem," he said.

Mississippi hospitals are fighting a proposed $94 million assessment for 2010 that would attract up to seven times that amount in matching federal dollars in state Medicaid spending.

Hospitals and other health care providers are the primary beneficiaries of spending in Medicaid, the state-federal program of medical assistance to low-income individuals under the age 21, families with dependent children, individuals and couples who are age 65 or older, and blind or disabled individuals.