Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says he hopes state lawmakers can soon approve the budget for his office. As MPB's Mark Rigsby reports, Governor Phil Bryant must call a special session before June 30th to fund the AG's office for the next fiscal year.
AG Jim Hood says this is the first time in 13 years his office has been singled out by not having his budget approved by the state legislature.
"Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and hopefully the Governor will call it strictly on our appropriations bill and not go into any substantative aspects of this office. We've asked for that to happen."
Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves said in an earlier interview that there may be some remaining questions on Hood's budget, but it was already agreed upon in conference committee.
"The Attorney General's office budget, as far as I know, when it was signed by the conferees, it was passed on the floor of the Mississippi Senate. There were questions, I think, but I don't think there was a real disagreement on the Attorney General's budget."
Lawmakers made a failed attempt this session to restrict the powers of the attorney general by requiring approval to engage in lawsuits that would result in an award of $250,000 or more. Hood says he hopes it will be the final attempt by lawmakers to control his office.
"I'm going to keep doing my job, and they can keep playing the games over there. Hopefully, we won't see any more of those bills."
Hood delivered more than $30 million in settlement money to the legislature during the session.
