Bill Would Restore Commission's Fiscal Authority

The Mississippi House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill to undo a 2016 budget gimmick — later declared improper by the Attorney General’s Office — that has used workers’ compensation assessments to plug holes in the state’s general fund. Despite the AG’s ruling, about $12.5 million — the state Workers' Compensation Commission's estimated budget for the past two years — has been transferred from the Administrative Expense Fund used to finance the administrative costs of the WCC. House Bill 789, sponsored...