Legislative recap: Mississippi Medicaid expansion, Trump, Dr. Oz

House and Senate leaders have remained at odds on efforts to expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor in Mississippi, but they agree on one thing as the 2025 legislative session starts: They should wait to draft and debate policy until the Trump administration and a new head of federal Medicaid take office.

This could easily push any legislative action on expansion into next year, postpone it until next session, depending on how long the changing of the guard in Washington takes. Installment of a new head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid could easily take until late spring or summer.

“We’re going to pump the brakes and figure out where a Trump administration is on these issues,” Republican House Speaker Jason White said. “Anybody that doesn’t want to do that, I think you’re not being honest with where the landscape is.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, agreed waiting to hear of any federal policy changes or allowances is prudent before trying to add Mississippi to the ranks of 41 other states that are accepting billions in federal dollars to provide health coverage through expanded Medicaid.

Trump, who will take office later this month, has selected TV personality and celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz’s appointment will require U.S. Senate confirmation.

This would likely make tax cuts or elimination the early, main debate among lawmakers. White and Hosemann both outlined their tax cut plans as the new session starts. White is continuing his push for eliminating the state income tax, as is Gov. Tate Reeves. Hosemann is continuing his call for a more cautious approach, cutting income taxes more over the next few years. Both said they also want to cut the state’s highest in the nation sales tax on groceries, nonprepared food.

Other likely major issues for lawmakers include changes to the state’s medical certificate of need regulations for hospital or clinic expansion, regulation of pharmacy benefit management, “school choice” — using public funds for private schools and allowing public school students to more easily change districts to escape poorly performing schools — and changes to the state’s Public Employee Retirement System.

Quote of the Week

“I don’t anticipate us not being here very many Fridays, but we will adjourn tomorrow for the week and go home and mirror our Senate counterparts. I hope it’s one of the only things we mirror them on this session.”

— House Speaker Jason White, on ending the legislative week a day early because of impending snow and ice storms for North Mississippi, and a dig at the policy clashes between the House and Senate

In Brief

Will Mississippi scrap white supremacists statues in Washington?

As other Southern states replace their statues of white supremacists in the U.S. Capitol, more Mississippi lawmakers appear ready to install more inclusive figures of the Magnolia State in Washington.

Democratic Sen. David Blount of Jackson filed a bill that creates a commission to recommend who state officials should replace the statues of J.Z. George and Jefferson Davis with in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall collection. The lieutenant governor’s office referred the bill to the Senate Rules Committee, which is led by Republican Sen. Dean Kirby of Pearl.

Kirby in the past has not advanced similar legislation out of his committee, but House Rules Committee Chairman Fred Shanks, a Republican from Brandon, previously told Mississippi Today he is open to moving such legislation forward in the 122-member House. — Taylor Vance

Reeves does some online lobbying for tax elimination

Gov. Tate Reeves posted on X as the Mississippi Legislature gaveled in this week that eliminating the state income tax is his top legislative priority, and he challenged fellow Republican statewide elected and legislative leaders to let voters know where they stand.

“Legislative Session begins today — #1 Goal for this Republican: ELIMINATE the Income Tax in Mississippi!!” Reeves posted. Under his tagging of others he said, “Are y’all with me?? @MSGOP voters deserve to know.”

Republican House Speaker Jason White this week also declared phasing out the income tax as his top priority. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate, has proposed a more cautious approach: continuing to cut the state’s already low income taxes over the next few years, and cutting the state’s highest-in-the-nation sales tax on groceries. — Geoff Pender

Judges sworn in for state’s highest courts

New and returning state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges took their oaths of office on Monday.

Newly elected high court justices Jenifer B. Branning of Philadelphia and Justice David P. Sullivan of Biloxi took their oaths to begin their judicial service, as did newly elected appeals Judge Amy Lassitter St. Pe’ of Pascagoula.

The Mississippi Constitution requires each justice and judge to swear or affirm “that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (name of office) according to the best of my ability and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Mississippi. So help me God.” — Mississippi Today politics team

By the Numbers

558

The number of general bills that had been posted to the state’s legislative website after the end of the first week of the new session Of these, 547 were House bills, 11 from the Senate. Typically, around 3,000 bills will be filed during a legislative session, but only hundreds will eventually be passed into law. Jan. 20 is the deadline for introduction of general bills and constitutional amendments.

Full Legislative Coverage

Here are the issues the Legislature will address during the 2025 session

Felony suffrage, restoration of a ballot initiative, tax cuts, Medicaid expansion — Mississippi lawmakers are expected to again deal with several longstanding issues. Read the story.

Speaker White, Lt. Gov. Hosemann talk 2025 priorities

Mississippi’s top two legislative leaders outlined their priorities for the legislative session to state media last week before the state’s 174 lawmakers gaveled in in Jackson. Read the story.

Mississippi will have at least three special legislative elections this year 

Some Mississippians around the state will have the chance to participate in at least three special elections to fill vacancies in the state Legislature — and there could be more in the future. Read the story.

Billionaire Tommy Duff forms Republican PAC as he weighs gubernatorial run

Billionaire Tommy Duff, as he considers a run for Mississippi governor in 2027, has formed a political action committee to help elect Republicans to city and legislative offices this year, likely to increase his influence as a political powerbroker. Read the story.

Photos: Lawmakers gavel in for 2025 Mississippi legislative session

Day one of the 2025 legislative session. See the photos.

Gov. Tate Reeves zones in again on taxes but remains silent on critical retirement system problems

Analysis: Gov. Tate Reeves, still shouting his desire to eliminate the income tax, is dead silent on another critical financial issue facing the state. Read Bobby Harrison’s analysis.

Podcast: ‘Deja vu all over again’: Senate President Protem Dean Kirby outlines 2025 issues

Sen. Dean Kirby, second ranking leader of the state Senate, says many of the issues Mississippi lawmakers will be tackling this year are recurring ones: tax cuts, education funding, Medicaid expansion, and issues with the Public Employees Retirement System. He’s also helping lead court mandated redistricting that will likely result in do-over elections later this year for numerous lawmakers. Listen to the podcast.