{"id":4697,"date":"2026-05-27T23:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T23:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/mississippi-2026-legislative-session-recap-bradley-arant-boult-cummings-llp\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T23:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T23:11:15","slug":"mississippi-2026-legislative-session-recap-bradley-arant-boult-cummings-llp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/mississippi-2026-legislative-session-recap-bradley-arant-boult-cummings-llp\/","title":{"rendered":"Mississippi 2026 Legislative Session Recap | Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The 2026 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature ended last month, and with a special session called by the governor for this month now cancelled, a legislative recap is in order.<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s session, which began on January 6, a total of 4,006 bills were introduced but only 189 of them, roughly 5%, became law. For comparison, during the 2025 regular session, 3,707 bills were introduced but only 259 of them became law, roughly 7%.<\/p>\n

Former Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn tells a story about visiting a fifth grade classroom to present on the legislative process. After spending 20 minutes expounding upon the pitfalls and intricacies of legislative deadlines, committee referrals, floor passage, resolving amendments from the other body, the governor\u2019s veto authority, etc., and asking the class if they had any questions, one boy in the front row, after an extended and awkward silence in the classroom, raised his hand and uttered, \u201cDo you like pizza?\u201d But I digress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bills that made it through<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Some of the more notable legislative proposals that became law this session included:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Certificate of Need reform<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Two measures were passed affecting the state\u2019s Certificate of Need (CON) process, which requires hospitals and other healthcare providers to obtain state approval before opening, expanding, or adding certain services. HB 3, among other things, doubles the capital expenditure amounts of a project for the CON requirement to be triggered, limits the University of Mississippi Medical Center\u2019s CON exemption to the Jackson area, and requires the Mississippi Department of Health to conduct a feasibility study on exempting small hospitals from having to obtain a CON for dialysis units and geriatric psychiatric units. HB 1622, among other things, exempts existing hospitals in small communities (based on population) from the CON requirement for capital expenditure projects. These reforms come on the heels of a federal court ruling in January this year that Mississippi\u2019s decades-long moratorium on issuing CONs for new healthcare facilities was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

    The Legislature voted to appropriate $100 million to build a new cancer center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson. This is on top of UMMC already raising $100 million in private donations for the cancer center. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mississippi\u2019s cancer death rate is 23% higher than the national average.<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Biomarker testing for cancer<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      HB 565 requires insurance companies to provide coverage for biomarker testing when used for the diagnosis, treatment, or ongoing monitoring of a patient\u2019s cancer. Biomarker testing analyzes biological indicators, often through blood or tissue samples, to help doctors identify which treatments are most likely to be effective for a specific type of cancer. By passing this law, Mississippi became the 23rd<\/sup> state to require such insurance coverage.<\/p>\n

      The House and Senate agreed on a $2,000 annual pay raise for K-12 public school teachers. Legislation also was passed to increase pay for community college and university professors by the same amount.<\/p>\n

      The Safeguard Honesty Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act, SB 2588, requires county election commissioners to verify prospective voters\u2019 U.S. citizenship using state records and a federal immigration database. The bill also mandates ongoing voter roll maintenance, including annual audits to identify and potentially remove non-citizens.<\/p>\n

        \n
      • Casino winnings and child support<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Lawmakers passed SB 2369, which requires the Mississippi Gaming Commission to work with the Mississippi Department of Human Services to establish a system for collecting casino winnings from individuals who owe child support and win $2,000 or more at slot machines or sports books.<\/p>\n

          \n
        • Tweaks to Public Employees\u2019 Retirement System<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Legislation was passed changing certain requirements under the state\u2019s Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), including reducing the service requirement for full retirement for new hires from 35 years to 30, allowing retirees to return to work sooner by shortening the required break from 90 days to 30 days, and basing retirement payments on an employee\u2019s highest four years of salary instead of eight.<\/p>\n

          Bills that didn\u2019t make it though<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

          On the other hand, some of the more notable proposals that were not enacted this session included:<\/p>\n

          In both the House and the Senate, proposals were introduced to regulate how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) operate in the state. The role of PBMs has come under scrutiny in the face of rising prescription costs and struggles by independent pharmacies. Disagreements over a proposed $11 mandatory prescription dispensing fee ultimately caused the proposals to die on the legislative calendar. House and Senate leaders have vowed to revisit the issue next session.<\/p>\n

          The House passed HB 158, which would legalize mobile sports betting but only if online gaming platforms partnered with an existing Mississippi casino before opening their apps to Mississippi residents. This requirement was intended to address concerns from the casino industry that sports betting would negatively impact brick-and-mortar sports books. There was also a provision in the bill directing revenue from mobile sports betting to reimburse casinos for lost sports betting revenue for a five-year period. The Senate, however, did not take up the legislation.<\/p>\n

          Omnibus legislation passed the House that would have created a new statewide school choice program allowing eligible families to use public funds for private school tuition. The bill also would have, among other things, eased restrictions on students transferring from one public school to another, allowed homeschool students to participate in public school extracurricular activities, and reformed the state\u2019s charter school law. The Senate chose not to take up the legislation.<\/p>\n

            \n
          • Medical Cannabis Program expansion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Several bills were introduced aimed at expanding Mississippi\u2019s Medical Cannabis Program, two of which made it out of the Legislature but were vetoed by the governor. HB 1152, known as the Right to Try bill, was passed by both bodies and would have provided a patient\u2019s treating medical provider with the ability to petition the Mississippi Department of Health to approve a patient\u2019s use of medical cannabis if the patient has a \u201cnonqualifying debilitating or terminal illness.\u201d The governor vetoed HB 1152 citing concerns over a provision allowing residents of other states to seek access through Mississippi\u2019s program. The other bill passed by both bodies but vetoed by the governor was HB 895, which would have extended from 12 to 24 months (a) the period during which a practitioner\u2019s written certification that a patient has a qualifying medical condition is valid and (b) the deadline for registered patients to renew their patient identification cards. The bill also would have removed the THC potency limit for cannabis tinctures, oils, and concentrates.<\/p>\n

              \n
            • Restoring the ballot initiative <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Legislation to restore the state\u2019s ballot initiative died before a floor vote in either body. The ballot initiative process was rendered unusable by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2021 due to an outdated provision that required signatures from five congressional districts despite the state now having only four districts.<\/p>\n

                \n
              • Exempting NIL from income taxes <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                Perhaps exemplifying the Southeastern Conference\u2019s well-known slogan, \u201cIt Just Means More,\u201d the House passed legislation aimed at giving Mississippi\u2019s universities an edge in recruiting athletes by exempting name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation from the state income tax. The Senate did not take up the legislation.<\/p>\n

                Eye towards 2027 session; select committees announced<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

                While the 2027 legislative session will not convene until January of next year, a variety of opportunities exist during the \u201coff-season\u201d to get a preview of and help shape the legislative agenda for 2027. One such opportunity is the meeting of select committees appointed by the lieutenant governor (for the Senate) and the speaker (for the House). These committees meet when the Legislature is not in session to gather facts on important issues facing the state.<\/p>\n

                Earlier this month, House Speaker Jason White announced the formation of select committees to study the following topics: Government Efficiency; Property Taxes; Redistricting; Judicial Operations; Consolidation; and Specialty Schools. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has yet to announce a full slate of select committees but has announced one to study redistricting. Other select committees will likely be formed as we get closer to the 2027 session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                The 2026 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature ended last month, and with a special session called by the governor for this month now cancelled, a legislative recap is in order. During this year\u2019s session, which began on January 6, a total of 4,006 bills were introduced but only 189 of them, roughly 5%, became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3616,3617,3615,3618,2286,2132,2398,2191,3242],"class_list":["post-4697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-arant","tag-boult","tag-bradley","tag-cummings","tag-legislative","tag-llp","tag-mississippi","tag-recap","tag-session"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}