Geoff Pender

2 weeks ago | mississippitoday.org | Geoff Pender

The state Senate Republican leadership didn’t plan to fail on a Mississippi tax overhaul. It failed to plan. And when pressed late in the 2025 legislative session to come up with a proposal to counter the House Republican leadership’s sweeping bill, Senate leaders did so behind closed doors and hurriedly. The result: a majority of legislators passing a tax overhaul bill full of math errors that accidentally did what Senate leaders didn’t want.

2 weeks ago | mississippitoday.org | Geoff Pender

Infighting between Mississippi’s Republican House and Senate legislative leaders reached DEFCON 4 as the 2025 legislative session sputtered to a close last week. Lawmakers gaveled out unable to set a $7 billion state budget — their main job — or to even agree to negotiate. Gov. Tate Reeves will force them back into session sometime before the end of the fiscal year June 30.

3 weeks ago | djournal.com | Geoff Pender

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other Senate leaders on Saturday excoriated the Republican House leadership, after the House didn’t show up for what was supposed to be “conference weekend” to haggle out a $7 billion budget. “There is no reasonable explanation for this,” Hosemann said. “… A special session will be very expensive. We just cut taxes, but now we’re going to go spend tens of thousands of dollars so (the House) can have the weekend off. I hope they enjoy their weekend off.

3 weeks ago | mississippitoday.org | Geoff Pender

The 2025 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature appeared to come to a halt on Saturday, after the over 100 bills that make up the state’s $7 billion annual budget died in a standoff between the House and Senate — primarily over whether to work over the weekend. To revive the budget bills and end this year’s legislative session roughly on time, the House and Senate would have to agree to a parliamentary extension of deadlines and the session, or Gov.

3 weeks ago | apnews.com | Geoff Pender

Mississippi Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other Senate leaders on Saturday excoriated the Republican House leadership, after the House didn’t show up for what was supposed to be “conference weekend” to haggle out a $7 billion budget. “There is no reasonable explanation for this,” Hosemann said. “… A special session will be very expensive. We just cut taxes, but now we’re going to go spend tens of thousands of dollars so (the House) can have the weekend off.