The 2020 Mississippi Legislative Session, or what�s commonly been coined by lawmakers as the �session that�ll never end,� officially came to a close on Friday morning.
�The idea behind [reconvening] was to come in and be real surgical and precise about what needed to be addressed with the CARES Act money that had not already been expended,� Senate Appropriations Chairman Briggs Hopson said. �I feel very good about the things we were able to do.�
During the less than 24-hour stay in Jackson, Briggs and company voted to redirect over $69 million in claw back money to hospitals, farmers, landlords, and veterans.
Here�s exactly where the money will end up:
- Through a grant program administered by the Mississippi Development Authority, $20 million will go to landlords who lost rent revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic. $30,000 is the maximum amount one landlord can receive.
- The medical community has unquestionably suffered the most from the pandemic as hospitals across the state have been flooded with patients. Lawmakers passed a bill that will make $13.9 million available to hospitals�$10 million for intensive care unit improvements and $3.9 million for specialty programs.
- As the agriculture industry continues to struggle, legislators set aside $13 million for Mississippi farmers. To be more specific, $9.5 million will go to general crop loss, $3.5 million to poultry farmers, and $500,000 to sweet potato farmers.
- With three of the state�s five nursing homes suffering from coronavirus outbreaks, the expenses continue to build. To provide some extra relief, lawmakers appropriated $10 million to Veterans Affairs.
- In order to improve communications among first responders, $10 million went to the Wireless Communications Commission.
Outside of yesterday�s adjustment of federal relief money, the 2020 legislative session was one for the history books as it featured everything from the removal of the state�s controversial state flag to over $265 million going towards broadband expansion and distance learning.
To read a bill-by-bill recap of what all was covered during this year�s session, click here. Next year’s session is set to commence in January of 2021.
The post 2020 legislative session concludes with redirection of over $69 million appeared first on News Mississippi.