The Mississippi governor said in a Facebook post that he signed 37 bills one day and 17 more the next, and has line-item vetoed three spending items in the Attorney General’s appropriation bill, HB 1924.
HB 1924 funds the annual operations of the attorney general’s office and funnels about $30 million in opioid settlement funds through the budget, the post said. The governor said the Legislature last year created an Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Council that included Chief Justice Randolph, Attorney General Fitch, members of several executive agencies and public experts on substance use disorders.
The council met multiple times and reviewed more than 125 applications, the post said. Lawmakers adopted many of the council’s recommendations, the governor said, but he vetoed three expenditures that did not appear in the council’s final report to the Legislature: $500,000 for Hope Squad, $800,000 for the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence and $250,000 for Finally First.
The governor said he vetoed the three items because they lacked vetting by the advisory council and did not comply with the application process in current statute, and he encouraged the organizations to apply in the council’s 2026 grant cycle. Opioid settlement funds are intended to help states respond to the opioid crisis through prevention, treatment and recovery programs. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
