Mississippi Lawmakers Beginning 3-Month Session | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

Mississippi Lawmakers Beginning 3-Month Session

House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, last summer created a committee of representatives to study the idea of a state lottery. The study group will issue a report on its findings before the legislative session begins in January 2018.

House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, last summer created a committee of representatives to study the idea of a state lottery. The study group will issue a report on its findings before the legislative session begins in January 2018. Photo by Imani Khayyam.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Legislature has started its 2018 session with plenty of issues to consider.

Lawmakers could debate creation of a lottery. They could try to rewrite a school funding formula. They could seek a long-term plan to pay for highway construction.

This is the second year of a four-year term. Republicans continue holding a supermajority in both the House and the Senate, after special elections to fill seats of legislators who left.

The GOP gained one Senate seat when Democrat Bill Stone of Holly Springs departed and a Republican, Neil Whaley of Potts Camp, was elected.

Joel Carter is being sworn in to the Senate on Tuesday, the opening day of the three-month legislative session. He succeeds Sean Tindell, another Gulfport Republican who was appointed to a nonpartisan judicial post.

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