Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers voted Monday to borrow $450 million for a range of needs, including $24.5 million to build an aquarium in Gulfport.

House and Senate members passed Senate Bill 2906, which contains $250 million in borrowing. The House also gave final passage to House Bill 1630, which calls for another $200 million in borrowing to be repaid by casino taxes, mostly for bridge work.

The House didn't pass the $250 million bill without sharp questioning from supporters of Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University about the failure to provide money for faculty housing at Alcorn State and student housing at Valley.

"We've got nothing but a bag full of excuses for Valley State," said Rep. Willie Bailey, D-Greenville.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jeff Smith, R-Columbus, admitted those were probably the "most critical" unmet needs. But, warning that Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves would not budge past the total amounts in bills, Smith argued that attempts to change the bill as Monday deadlines approached could endanger the chance of any borrowing.

In 2012, Reeves torpedoed the typically annual ritual of state borrowing, and Smith said he didn't want to risk lawmakers going home in an election year without a bond bill.

Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes, a Republican who formerly served in the state Senate, said he expected the total cost of the aquarium project would be $90 million to $120 million. The city has spent $14 million to buy land at the northeast corner of U.S. Highways 49 and 90, with hopes of linking the aquarium to the waterside Jones Park with a skywalk over U.S. 90.

"We tried to lay the foundation even before we made our request to the Legislature," Hewes said.

He said Gulfport would like to replace the former Marine Life Oceanarium attraction, but "on a much higher level," and hopes to get BP oil spill restoration money to pay for part of the project. Hewes said Gulfport is seeking an outside operator for the aquarium.

Some lawmakers, though, criticized the aquarium money, saying the state had more important priorities. Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Jackson, noted that Hewes, who lost a Republican primary race for lieutenant governor against Reeves in 2011, had recently endorsed Reeves.

"We're not doing bridges and we're doing an aquarium, and it seems like our priorities are a little bit out of kilter," Brown said. "I know he recently endorsed the lieutenant governor, and I know how politics work."

Some senators opposed a number of the projects as frivolous.

"You understand the difference between a want and a need, don't you?" asked Sen. Billy Hudson, R-Hattiesburg. He was one of four senators voting against Senate Bill 2906.

Many more groups went home with less money than they had hoped. Gov. Phil Bryant had supported $10 million to help finance a $150 million expansion for Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The hospital got $6 million.

The state will borrow another $20 million for the state history and civil rights museum. But that, too, was less than backers wanted. Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, warned that the museum might not have enough money to pay for furnishing and exhibits in time for Mississippi's bicentennial in 2017.