On Thursday, Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) held a press briefing after last night's severe weather in Mississippi.
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NewsTranscript
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00:37you
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02:04Good afternoon and thank you all for
02:05for joining us today on short notice. I want to begin by providing an update on
02:13last night's storms that ripped through northwest part of Mississippi, as well
02:18as Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri and several other states. Preliminary
02:23reports indicate that six people in Mississippi were injured as a result of
02:28last night's severe weather,
02:30one in Marshall County,
02:32two in Tate County and three in Tipa County. Thankfully, as of now, no
02:40fatalities have been reported. Since the most severe weather was between
02:44midnight and daylight,
02:47it is still early, but damage assessments are currently underway. At
02:53this time, at least 60 homes have received damage across five counties.
02:58Those five counties are Benton, Bolivar, Marshall, Tate and Tipa County. The
03:06Mississippi Emergency Management Association, excuse me, Management
03:09Agency is in contact with local emergency managers and is in the
03:14process of filling request for tarps, water and food for impacted counties. As
03:21of now, Marshall County has asked for and will receive 200 tarps, 4000
03:27bottles of water and over 500 meals ready to eat or M. R. E. S.
03:3450 tarps are being sent to Tate County. Obviously, Mac and his team at Mima are
03:40very busy, and that's why he's not here with us today. But we will continue
03:44fulfilling request and meeting unmet needs as they come in from our local
03:50authorities. I encourage Mississippians who've sustained damage from this storm
03:55to file an insurance claim, take photos of the damage and reported via the
04:00self report tool on Mima's website. Additionally, if you have an immediate
04:06unmet need, please contact your county emergency management agency. A list of
04:11those county contacts can be found on the Mima website.
04:17I want all Mississippians to know that the state of Mississippi is in this for
04:22the long haul, and we will do everything in our power to rebuild and
04:26recover as quickly as possible. I asked my fellow Mississippians to please pray
04:33for those who were injured and please pray for their families as well as
04:39those whose homes were damaged. We know there are a lot of Mississippians that
04:44are struggling and suffering right now, and we're gonna keep them in our
04:47thoughts and prayers.
04:49Next, I'd like to change topics. I'd like to take just a moment to
04:54highlight what I believe to be probably the most underreported story in my
04:59tenure as governor, and that is Mississippi's impressive economic
05:03growth in 2000 and 24.
05:07As you all know, 2024 was a banner year for Mississippi and our state's
05:12economy. Last year, we finalized the single largest private sector
05:16investment in Mississippi history. The $10 billion A. W. S. Project. We
05:22announced the largest payroll commitment in state history
05:27with the $2 billion private sector investment by Accelera by Cummins,
05:32Daimler trucks and buses and pack car that will create 2000 jobs up in
05:37Marshall County. And we broke new ground on the largest private sector
05:42investment in the history of the Mississippi Delta, a $1.2 billion
05:48investment by energy to build the Delta Blues advanced power station in
05:53Greenville.
05:54Now, what is all of this capital investment mean?
05:58Well, Mississippi was just ranked the second fastest growing economy in all
06:04of America in 2000 and 24. That's right. Number two in the nation for GDP
06:11growth, not in the south, not in the southeast, but in the entire nation. In
06:19addition to that, Mississippi was just ranked number one in the United States
06:24for net personal income growth, and we were number two for agriculture,
06:29forestry, fishing and hunting and number eight for manufacturing growth.
06:35Suffice it to say, our state's economy is strong, and we're doing what it
06:39takes to keep the Mississippi momentum going. We're attracting new businesses
06:46after new businesses, and we're creating thousands of good paying jobs all
06:52across Mississippi. I have to take just a moment to thank our state's
06:57greatest asset for making this possible,
07:02and that is our people. None of this would have been possible without them,
07:07and I am incredibly proud of the results you are putting up every single
07:13day on behalf of our state to all Mississippi. Keep up the good work.
07:20Now, finally, the hottest topic inside the capital complex today is the
07:25prospect for a possible special session. As you are all aware, the
07:31Legislature just adjourned their session this year without passing a
07:34budget. Now, look, I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it's certainly
07:40not the first time, even in recent history, that this has happened. In
07:45fact, since I've been in public office, this is at least the third time the
07:50Legislature has adjourned without passing a budget. In fact, I have
07:55served with four lieutenant governors and three speakers of the House, and
08:00now all but one of those has adjourned a session without a full budget being
08:05passed.
08:07And the reality is that Mississippi is not only still standing, we are
08:13thriving. So everybody, I encourage you to calm down, relax and pay no
08:21attention to any headlines proclaiming any sort of crisis. I want to assure
08:26you the press here, Mississippi's agencies and agency directors, even
08:31some of whom report to me. And most importantly, I want to assure our
08:36taxpayers there is no imminent threat of a government shutdown. Our state
08:41government is going to be just fine as we work through this process. The
08:46Legislature has until July 1st to pass a budget for the next fiscal year, and
08:51my team has already verified there will be no interruptions in the usual
08:57course of state business. In the meantime,
09:01I am confident that the House and the Senate will be able to work together
09:05and get this done. In fact, I have been in personal communication with
09:11legislative leadership over the last several weeks, and I don't think
09:16they're really that far apart.
09:17And for the question, I am sure is at the front of everyone's mind. I do not
09:24know the timing of any special session call yet, but we will develop a plan to
09:29get the budget passed quickly, efficiently and ultimately in a way
09:34that will benefit the folks we work for. And that, of course, is you, the
09:40taxpayers of this state,
09:43a budget that upholds state government responsibilities but also recognizes
09:49our values of efficiency and is fiscally responsible. A budget that
09:54prioritizes public safety that spurs development for our people and that
09:59supports our workforce.
10:03Also, I don't know at this time if other items will be in a special session
10:09call. I know there were a lot of priorities for conservatives that did
10:13not get to my desk, so we were having internal detailed conversations as to
10:18what else may or may not be asked of the Legislature to consider in a
10:24potential special session. Again, I'd like to thank all of you for being here
10:29today, and I'd be happy to take any questions that you may have.
10:39Can you give any specifics about any issues that could be gone for a special
10:42session, such as possibly school choice, mobile sports betting, etc.? Well, the
10:48question is, any details about items that might be considered for a call of
10:55a special session? And you mentioned specifically school choice. You
11:00mentioned mobile sports betting. I would mention parents' Bill of Rights.
11:05Real C. O. N. Reform certainly is an item of interest for many conservatives
11:10across, um, Mississippi. And so there are a large number of items. At this
11:16point, I will rule nothing out. Y'all know that I am reluctant to add things
11:22to a special session. I'm reluctant to call special sessions because of the
11:26cost associated with them. But since we do have a special session that's coming
11:30up to deal with, um, funding, then that certainly opens the door for
11:38consideration of those items. I'm not looking to do a long, uh, drawn out
11:45special session. Um, I have every intention of working with our
11:49legislative leaders to make sure that when we come in that we have a plan and
11:54that that plan can then be executed. Um, and again, I think there's a real
12:00opportunity to get that done. Um, and I hope we get it done sooner rather than
12:04later. Yes, sir.
12:08Once you you sort of alluded to it, but I know in past special sessions, like
12:12with economic development deals, you've brief legislative leaders, I think,
12:17ahead of time and then called him into a special session. It was pretty quick.
12:22Would you want to kind of do a similar thing with this? Where, you know, both
12:26the Senate and House leadership have at least a gentleman's agreement
12:31beforehand. So that way they can get in and get out on a special session, and
12:35it wouldn't be long and call. So the only special sessions that I have
12:40called since I have been governor have been special sessions that revolve
12:45around large economic development projects. Um, obviously, we have
12:51typically negotiated those details long before the special session is
12:58called. We negotiate with those private sector entities, with the local
13:03economic development organizations, with the various state agencies that are
13:06involved, like the Mississippi Department of Transportation on others
13:10to make sure we can meet the timelines that we lay out. And then we spend time
13:15working with the legislative leadership to make sure they are aware and
13:19cognizant of the various issues that exist and the deal that we have made
13:24with those entities. And I do expect that this particular process will work
13:30similarly. I expect there to be, um, substantial, if not 100% agreement as to
13:40what that budget is going to look like. That's going to take some time. I would
13:44presume to get that done. I do not have any intention of calling a special
13:48session and allowing members or not even allowing forcing members to come
13:55to Jackson and and stand there and stare at one another or fight over the
13:58budget for days and weeks or months. Um, I just I don't have any interest in
14:03that. And quite frankly, um, in my conversations with, um, both the House
14:07and the Senate leadership, I don't think they have any interest in that
14:10either. Um, that certainly is not going to do anybody any good. But, um, but,
14:17you know, we do have some items that, um, we need to deal with in the current
14:22fiscal year. Um, there is a there were several request for current year budget
14:29deficits that need to be dealt with as well. Um, again, that's not something
14:33that has to be dealt with tomorrow, but it is certainly something that needs to
14:37be dealt with sooner rather than later. And the other thing I'll just throw out
14:42there is, who knows? We've had a lot of successes over the last, um, five
14:46years in economic development. We may have a reason to call a special session
14:49for an economic development deal, uh, in the next, uh, few months or a year as
14:54well. So, um, we're taking into account all of the possibilities. Um, and we're
14:59gonna give legislative leadership a few days to, um, to go their separate ways
15:05to go back into their corners and and, um, get some, uh, water and towel off
15:11and calm down and, uh, and then we'll start having those conversations. But
15:15again, um, the critical point here is that, um, that while this is certainly
15:22unusual, it is not unprecedented. And for me, at least, um, I think we will
15:28continue to have the conversations to to get them back eventually to get this
15:32done. And as we showed several years ago with the Department of Marine
15:37Resources,
15:39um, if in fact there is not the ability to get an agreement, we can run state
15:44government, certainly the essential parts of state government. Um, without
15:48a budget, we've shown that and we've proven that and we are willing to do
15:53that. And I would just argue in in today's world with what's going on in
15:57Washington D. C. There is demand from conservative voters all across America
16:03that we get government spending under control. Um, and there's certainly an
16:07argument to be made that only essential operations in government
16:10ought to be funded by the taxpayers. And so we'll be having those
16:13conversations. Yes, sir. Governor, just two quick ones. First of all, in a
16:16special session, would you be open or receptive at all to take another look
16:21at those triggers in the income tax cut? Number two, you have a new Medicaid
16:26tech bill headed to you. You had a chance to read that, you know, you're
16:29gonna do on that. Yeah. So the all of the bills that have been passed by the
16:35House and the Senate because of the sunny down motion that was enacted
16:40yesterday by the House and today by the Senate, we will have approximately 15
16:45days to take a look at those. I have not had time to look at all of the
16:49specific provisions in the Medicaid tech bill or any other bill at this
16:54time. The staff, I am sure has started that process and they spend a greater
17:01percentage of their time knowing what's happening in those bills than I
17:06do. Obviously, with the tremendous amount of economic development that's
17:10going on, I'm trying to continue to spend 90% of my time on economic
17:13development and bringing better and higher paying jobs to our state.
17:17But we will sit down over the next couple of weeks and and take a look at
17:21those. Um, and we'll make a decision, uh, at the appropriate time. I'm trying
17:28to your other question. Oh, with respect to, uh, the bill, obviously,
17:32uh, the legislature, the House and the Senate made a decision after I signed
17:37the one big beautiful bill, which eliminates the income tax in
17:42Mississippi. Finally, once and for all, uh, an accomplishment that we've been
17:47working towards. I feel like for the entirety of my public service career,
17:53but particularly since 2000 and 15 when the very first Taxpayer Pay Raise Act
18:00was offered and then 2016 when it was ultimately passed. Um, and so look, I'm
18:05open to consider anything. Uh, the house, I think in that that Senate
18:10bill wanted to have serious conversations surrounding
18:15a dedicated revenue stream to the public employees retirement system. Um,
18:19you will recall in House Bill one, they took the money that is collected
18:23from the lottery, which right now goes to the Department of Transportation.
18:27And in that HB one bill that passed the house, they had taken those lottery
18:32proceeds and sent them directly to fund help fund the unfunded liability of the
18:38public employees retirement system. That is certainly something that I am
18:42willing to consider. Um, the triggers that exist in state law today, uh,
18:48require that, um, revenue in 2029 is greater than expenses in 2030 for the
18:57triggers to take effect. I'm not really sure how to improve upon that. If you
19:02are protecting yourself, um, and revenue is greater than expenditures, the
19:08taxpayers ought to get a pay raise and and we ought to reduce the individual
19:12income tax. We auto in reduced taxes. Uh, and so I'm look, I'm open to
19:17consider whatever needs to be considered. Um, but I think the, um,
19:21House Bill one in the form in which it was sent to me, um, and the way in which
19:26it was signed puts us on a path that is responsible and makes sense for the
19:32taxpayers and one that, quite frankly, is going to help continue to grow our
19:36economy. Many people in 2015 2016 2022 claimed if you pass this bill, you're
19:46gonna have major government deficits. Just gonna destroy your economy. All
19:51the same arguments that are being made today were made in 2022 and they've
19:57been proven wrong. All of those same arguments were made in 2016. And here
20:01we are 10 years later, and those arguments have been proven wrong. I
20:05would submit to you that the bill that passed and I signed into law will go
20:10into effect. We'll continue to reduce and ultimately eliminate the income
20:14tax, and our economy is going to grow significantly because of it. Yes, sir.
20:20Having to call a special session at all isn't ideal. But do you think that the
20:25budget being decided in a special session to end up being beneficial for
20:29the state over the past couple days? Uh, what was heard about hundreds of
20:33millions of dollars federal spending cuts affecting our health department
20:37and education department. And so do you think the lawmakers having, um, a
20:43better sense of what that looks like in terms of federal spending as when
20:47they passed the budget? Yeah, well, let's talk about these hundreds of
20:51millions of dollars that have been cut from the federal government and just
20:55understand what they are. These are not annual recurring expenditures that keep
21:02the government operating. These are programs that were created during the
21:06pandemic for pandemic response. That's what they are. I think we can all agree
21:12that the pandemic is not here anymore. And so the Biden administration
21:17extended on quite frankly, I would argue in many ways changed the purpose
21:23of those funds. But these were funds that were created to respond to the
21:26pandemic by the Congress. They have been extended. And so while it's
21:31certainly going to create some challenges that need to be worked
21:34through, I will be opposed to the state of Mississippi asking our state's
21:40taxpayers to fill in the gap for funds that were initially offered by the
21:46federal government that are now no longer going to come through. Now,
21:50there may be exceptions of that, and we'll certainly look at each and every
21:52one of them. But again, the couple of trillion dollars a year more in
21:59spending by the federal government today compared to pre pandemic levels
22:03is continuing to add to our deficit. No, by the way, let's not forget that
22:07America has $36 trillion in debt, and I say 36. It's been a day or two
22:14since I've looked, so it may be 37 trillion. Now America is spending a
22:18trillion dollars a year on interest expense
22:23a trillion a year, and we're taking in about 4.5 trillion dollars and
22:27spending 6.5 trillion. It is imperative. It's one of the biggest risks that
22:31faces America is, uh, the ballooning and out of control debt. And I know
22:37that everybody likes to point fingers as to this president's fault. It's that
22:40president's fault. It's this political party's fault. It's that political
22:43party's fault. The reality is, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. At
22:47least President Trump and his team. Um, whether you like what Elon Musk is
22:52doing or not, whether you like what the Department of Government efficiency is
22:55doing or not, at least they have the intestinal fortitude to take this head
22:59on on. I personally appreciate that.
23:01Yeah.
23:03Yes, sir. Speaking of Musk, have you heard? Is he in or is he out?
23:11In or out of what his position? There's
23:15reports that the president's. Have you heard anything? Well, this will come as
23:20a surprise to you, but the president doesn't often call me and ask me my
23:26opinion on high level positions. And the multi 100 billionaire Elon Musk
23:32certainly doesn't call me and ask me what jobs he takes and doesn't take.
23:35But my impression is that, uh, there is a shelf life for how long Elon is
23:43going to be involved in in management, managing the Department of Government
23:48efficiency. I think there was always going to be a shelf life after all. He
23:52does have quite a few private sector jobs as well. And so I don't know if he
23:58has one day, one month or one year left in this current, um,
24:04volunteer opportunity. But I do think that the concept will continue. And the
24:10concept of finding government efficiencies, the concept of finding
24:14things that the federal government spending money on that they ought not
24:17be and cutting them is going to continue throughout the entirety of the Trump
24:21administration. And I, for one, believe it should
24:24just wanted to switch gears for just a second. Um, the Senate chose not to
24:28confirm your deputy chief of staff Corey Custer for the MPB board. It's
24:33wondering if you had a comment on the Senate's decision and who you might be
24:37considering to put up for the board next. Yeah, I did see that late
24:42yesterday. Um, you know, there's no doubt that there are some Republican
24:47senators who like to vote with Democrats on really important topics.
24:51Uh, and they don't like the fact that I call them out on it. Um, they ought to
24:55attack me and and not attack one of my staff members. He had nothing to do with
24:59that. Quite frankly, I think it's chicken shit what they did. But that
25:04is their own, um, their own thing. They are elected by, uh, their people in
25:10their district on. I'm gonna keep working to make sure
25:14that we nominate people to positions of power and influence that have
25:19conservative views, conservative values. And that's just what I'm gonna do. And
25:25if, for whatever reason, um, the some Republicans joined with all the
25:31Democrats to kill appointees, they'll just have to do that. No answer to
25:35their voters.
25:37Yes, sir. You mentioned that we've effectively done away with the income
25:42tax. You mentioned the triggers to as well. As far as reaching that goal, do
25:47you? And I'm a piggyback off of what Mike just asked for a clear answer on
25:52that. Do you think those triggers could be adjusted to make that goal easier to
25:56attain? Yeah, look, I want to eliminate the income tax as quick as possible. I
26:02was fine not having any triggers, and I continue to be fine not having any
26:07triggers. Um, the Senate wanted there to be triggers in the out years in
26:122030 to 2040. And that seems like a reasonable, a reasonable thing. If
26:18that's what they want, and that's the only way we could get the bill done.
26:20And so I was fine with that. I'm fine with making it easier to get there
26:25quicker. Um, and if they have some sort of, um, plan to, um, to do something
26:32else, I'm certainly willing to listen.
26:35Yes, sir. Circle back to the federal funds being backed. You know, while
26:40those those fields were passed by Congress for for Covid response, it
26:45isn't what those funds have been used for by state agencies. I mean, there's
26:50school districts that, you know, use their pandemic relief funds to buy new
26:55HVAC systems, you know, construction of a few buildings. Health Department has
26:59used funding to, you know, support the regionalization population health
27:02strategy centered around the mental health, sorry, county health
27:07departments. Um, so and and some of those and some of those projects like
27:12they've already, you know, signed contracts with with contractors and
27:16other entities. Um, so there's, uh, what do you, um, would you like support
27:25the legislature stepping in and making sure that like contracts that have
27:29already been signed and been honored or projects that have already been
27:32started or completed? Like just what do you think about it? Yeah, I think
27:36that we're gonna have to look at that on a case by case basis. Um, I think
27:40that there's certainly very, um, some of them are worthy of, um, of doing
27:46the programs. But again, these air congressionally passed
27:53programs to respond to the pandemic, which occurred in 2020 2021, maybe a
28:01little in 2022. It is now 2025 and the federal government is $2 trillion in
28:09annual deficit with a $36 trillion national debt. It stands to reason that
28:15um, the trump administration, uh, and republicans in Congress as well are
28:20looking at these funds and others to try to get control of our out of
28:24control budget. Yes, sir.
28:26Yeah, sure. Good. I know someone's behind me. Uh, nice to meet you,
28:29governor. Um, I was curious if you have a timeline or time frame on when you
28:33will be signing the anti bill in schools. Yeah, I haven't received that
28:39that bill yet. Um, obviously that was one of the, um, bills that passed the
28:43House in the Senate that was that was a priority for conservatives. Um, and so
28:47we don't have a time frame yet, but it will be, uh, sometime in the next
28:52couple of three weeks, uh, that we will, uh, look at that and make sure that
28:56there's, you know, the staff will make sure that there's that everything in
28:59the bill is, um, up to what we, uh, think it says and want it to say. And
29:05I'll sign that bill at that time, but sometime in the next 15 to 20 days. Yes,
29:10sir.
29:11Tax bill done. Purge was a big talking point. Both sides. We have lawmakers
29:16which makes you one.
29:18What?
29:20The speaker White talked about it's almost upside down and one of the
29:22funding and you alluded to maybe pulling from the lottery there, but
29:26we've heard from some people think that it as it stands, it might not be as
29:30attractive to bring in your state employee. Just what are your thoughts
29:33on that? And how would you like to see perfect address moving forward? Yeah,
29:36so obviously there was a there's an attempt, um, to, um, get additional
29:42resources into the public employees retirement system. Um, the fifth tier
29:48that was created in House Bill one. Um, and again, I didn't propose taking
29:53lottery proceeds and moving them to, um, to the public employees retirement
29:59system. How the house did in House Bill one. But I understand what their point
30:03is, and that's a priority for them to understand why they why they did that.
30:07Um, you know, there have been those who have said that the changing of the
30:12retirement system makes it harder to attract employees. Um, I'm not really
30:17sure that's accurate. I'm not sure that is correct. Um, the fact of the
30:22matter is, uh, my experience has been and certainly everyone in the private
30:26sector proves this. Um, young people today are not spending 25 and 30 and 40
30:33years at the same employer. Young people today won't mobility. And so, um, I
30:40actually think that a, um, define, uh, contribution plan that the employee can
30:47control
30:49and move from location to location may actually be more attractive for the
30:56state of Mississippi to attract employees. Now, I'm not saying that
31:01that's necessarily in that employee's best interest. Having that defined
31:05benefit plan has helped a lot of retirees in the state of Mississippi
31:10maintain a similar or even greater, um, style of living than had they not had
31:17one. So I'm not saying it's in those individuals best interest, but also
31:20don't know that it's government's responsibility to tell an individual
31:23what they want to do for their their retirement funds. Uh, you give them the
31:27opportunity to, um, have mobility if that's what they want. And, um, and I
31:32think that's certainly something that, um, that I think will actually turn out
31:38to be certainly advantageous to the funding status of the plan. Um, you
31:43know, there was a famous politician who ran for governor Mississippi in 2003
31:47when we had major financial problems in our state that said the first thing you
31:52need to do if you're in a hole and want to get out of it is to stop digging.
31:56Tier five will to Lieutenant Governor Hoseman's credit. Tier five will allow
32:03us to stop digging. There's no question about that. And over time, uh, it will
32:07see the unfunded liability of the plan be reduced as more and more people get
32:14into that fifth tier. And so again, I don't think it's completely solves, uh,
32:19the funding status. Um, by the way, the $25 billion unfunded liability, the
32:24public employees retirement system, about eight billion of that was a
32:28decision made by the board to reduce the expected rate of return from 8% to 7%.
32:35There was no real reason for them to do that. But that is a decision that the
32:38board made. That's $8 billion. They didn't change their asset allocation.
32:42They didn't become. They didn't start investing in less risky assets. They're
32:47investing in exactly the same assets and the same asset classes at similar
32:51levels. But yet they said we're gonna collect. We're gonna earn less money in
32:55the future than we've earned in the past, all because their consultants
32:59advised him to do that because they didn't want to get sued
33:01again. That's over a third of the unfunded liability. Um, but again, I
33:08think the steps that have been taken last year with additional monies going
33:13from employers as well as this year makes a lot of sense.
33:23Any other questions? Nobody on. We've got quite a few people participating
33:28online, but they evidently don't have any questions, which is good. Um,
33:33very good. Uh, thank you all for being here. I really do appreciate it. Um,
33:39obviously it's been a busy time, a good time, but we got a lot a lot of good
33:44things happening in our state and Mississippi has real momentum and this
33:48is Mississippi's time. Thank you all and God bless.
33:58Yeah.