Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann speaks to city leaders at the Capitol, January 13, 2026. (Photo from MML on Facebook)
- Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann wants to see state government restructured. The Senate is starting on that path by eliminating boards that are no longer relevant.
The Mississippi Senate is fast-tracking a top priority of Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann (R) early in the session, that being the streamlining of state government.
SB 2017, authored by State Senator Tyler McCaughn (R), chair of the Senate Government Restructuring Committee, calls for the elimination of nearly two dozen “obsolete” state boards, commissions, and councils. It was passed out of committee and now awaits action by the full Senate.
At the end of the 2025 session, Lt. Governor Hosemann said restructuring state government is a key goal of his in 2026. Senator McCaughn said many of the boards and commissions in the bill have not met for years.
“The intent of this bill is not to get rid of those that are actually meeting. The intent is not to get rid of those that are actually out there doing the work that they were charged with doing,” McCaughn explained to the committee.
Many of the boards, commissions, and councils are no longer relevant, and some were created decades ago, he said.
A few commissions’ duties would be transferred to existing government agencies. The Mississippi Commission on the Holocaust’s responsibilities would be assumed by the State Department of Education. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Advisory Commission’s duties would be placed under the Department of Archives and History.
Under the bill, the Commission of Road Protection would be eliminated, and duties would be taken over by the Mississippi Department of Transportation and county governments. The Commission was responsible for the safety of roads and seawalls.
The measure repeals the following boards and commissions:
- Bienville Recreational District
- Mississippi Council of Advisors in Acupuncture
- Mississippi Interagency Council on Homelessness
- Harrison County Parkway Commission
- Mississippi Commission on the Holocaust
- Control and management of Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Shrine
- Mississippi Advisory Council on Faith-Based Initiatives
- Civil War Battlefield Commission
- Mississippi Electronic Recording Commission
- Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission
- Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Commission
- Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel
- Council on Obesity Prevention and Management
- Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women
- Mississippi Coordinating Council for Remote Sensing and Graphic Information Systems
- Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Advisory Commission
- Mississippi Windstorm Mitigation Coordinating Council
- Commission of Road Protection
- Deep Draft Harbor and Terminal
- Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Authority
- Mississippi Superconducting Super Collider Authority
If enacted, the bill would go into effect on July 1.
Daniel Tyson
