(Photo from Governor's Office)
- “The risk of loss which could exceed $1 billion in much-needed funding to improve rural healthcare is too great, and I am compelled to veto Senate Bill 2477 at this time,” Governor Tate Reeves said.
Governor Tate Reeves (R) announced Thursday that he had vetoed SB 2477, legislation authored by State Senator Hob Bryan (D) that would have added requirements to the spending of funds through the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Bryan is the chairman of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.
In a Facebook post announcing his veto, Reeves he had been working closely with the Trump administration on their Rural Health funding initiatives “because it so so important to rural Mississippi.”
While Reeves said he personally liked Bryan having worked with the senator when he was Lt. Governor, Bryan “is also a liberal Democrat.”
“I think [Bryan] would be the first to tell you that he is not a fan of my legislative goals, of conservative policy in general or President Trump,” Reeves said. “We simply do not agree on political philosophy or policy goals or the Trump administration. It is what it is!”
“So when SB2477, authored by Democrat Senator Bryan, reached my desk, my team worked with the [Trump] Administration to vet it,” the governor noted.
Governor Reeves recounted a White House dinner seated next to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. as well as at a Governor’s meeting with the Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz. Reeves said his staff has kept regular contact with HHS and CMS “to ensure that we meet the Trump administration’s goals on this federal money.”
In correspondence to Reeves on the matter, the governor said Dr. Oz stated, “The program has a firm obligation deadline of October 30, 2026… and any legislation that seeks to impede or restrict the procurement process will put Mississippi at serious risk of obligating its funding on time.”
Bryan’s legislation sought to require a competitive bidding process for the establishment of a state health information exchange, restricting the use of the state’s emergency purchase procedure. It would have also required every agency that awards grants or funds derived from
the Rural Health Transformation Program to submit quarterly spending reports to the Legislature.
Governor Reeves said that while no doubt well intentioned, SB 2477 would “significantly slow down the awarding of RHTP federal funds by imposing redundant and unnecessary requirements on subgrants thereby putting $205.9 million in already-approved funding at immediate risk of clawback.”
“In addition, Senate Bill 2477 risks the State losing a minimum of $800 million in potential funding in Years 2 – 5 of the grant cycle,” Reeves concluded. “Thus, the risk of loss which could exceed $1 billion in much-needed funding to improve rural healthcare is too great, and I am compelled to veto Senate Bill 2477 at this time.”
The legislation had received near unanimous support in both chambers, with only drawing five votes in opposition in the House and passing unanimously in the Senate.
Lawmakers have now adjourned but could be called back before April 15 if the Lt. Governor and Speaker agree or should the governor call a special session.
Frank Corder
