Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers gaveled their 2014 session to order at noon Tuesday.

They have a busy three months ahead, but they're getting off to a slow start.

"We'll meet and greet today and fight tomorrow," joked Rep. Preston Sullivan, D-Okolona.

No bills were posted to the legislative website before the session, so it wasn't possible for the public to read the specific proposals that will be debated. More than 100 bills appeared on the site shortly after the session started, but many more are expected before the Jan. 20 bill filing deadline. In most sessions, at least 2,000 bills are filed, though only a small fraction of them become law.

Leaders say they'll look for ways to reduce spending on prisons. They could argue over Medicaid expansion, though it's not expected to pass. Republican Gov. Phil Bryant says he wants to start drug testing for welfare recipients.

Lawmakers face an early April deadline to finish a state budget, and the new fiscal year starts July 1.

"Since we have a bit more money than we've had the past few years, you'll have a lot of people with their hands out," Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, said Tuesday. "We just need to make sure we fund what's needed and no more."

Even as revenues continue to rise, some leaders are emphasizing holding down new spending and getting away from using "one-time money," such as winnings from lawsuit settlements, to pay for ongoing state expenses.

Bryant issued a report Monday calling for more efforts to make sure government spending produces results. He listed several goals, including reducing the state's unemployment rate to 7.5 percent by 2017. It was 8.6 percent in November, the most recent number available. Bryant also said he wants to expand teachers' merit pay to 70 percent of school districts by 2018. Only four of the 151 school districts, or 2.6 percent, use it now.

For several months in 2013, judges, prosecutors, lawmakers and other elected officials met to discuss ways to make the prison system less expensive and more efficient. The 21-member group made several recommendations, including guarantying that nonviolent offenders serve at least 25 percent and violent offenders serve at least 50 percent of their sentences and expanding the use of drug courts, where offenders are often ordered into a treatment program rather than prison.

Two House committees will start examining some of the recommendations Wednesday. Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, who served on the study group, said he's optimistic that lawmakers will enact many of them.

"I've spoken to prosecutors, judges and citizens and I think they want us to do it," Wiggins said Tuesday. "It's about good, efficient government and also public safety."

Mississippi spent about $339 million a year on corrections during fiscal 2013, which ended June 30. That was up from $276 million in 2003. Without changes, the state's prison costs are on track to increase another $266 million in the coming decade, according to Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit and nonpartisan group that worked with the governor's staff and lawmakers to evaluate the corrections system.