SB 3042 Mississippi Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Appropriation; Secretary of State.

SB 3042 provides $16.9 million in general funds and $16.7 million in special funds to support the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office for fiscal year 2026 (July 2025-June 2026). It authorizes 95 permanent and 11 time-limited staff positions, mandates strict spending limits on salaries (no increases for current employees), and requires the office to meet specific performance targets like answering 95% of customer calls and updating 6,400 voter registrations online. The bill also restricts funds to approved duties under state law, prohibits using general funds to replace withdrawn special funds, and allocates $500,000 for county voting system bonds. It directly affects the Secretary of State’s office operations, staffing, and accountability for fiscal year 2026 expenditures.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status died 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Feb 2025

Governor

Introduced Feb 20, 2025 Last action Mar 29, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 8 edits

MODERATE

This bill was amended from its original introduction to its final Senate passage version. The core appropriations for the Secretary of State's fiscal year 2026 budget remain unchanged, but the final version added new performance measures, clarified fund usage for specific purposes like cybersecurity and bond payments, and included additional sections on related funds and procurement preferences. These changes provide more transparency on how the money will be spent and ensure funds are used for specific authorized purposes.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include specific performance metrics and clarified fund allocations for cybersecurity, bond payments, and specialized funds that were not explicitly detailed in the original version.

REQUIREMENT

Added Section 8 requiring the agency to report performance measures for business services, elections, publications, public lands, and support services with specific numerical targets.

Added Section 13 requiring preference for Mississippi Industries for the Blind when purchasing commodities or equipment.

FISCAL

Added Section 9 allocating up to $500,000 for county voting system bond payments and Section 10 allocating $1,750,000 from the Land Records Maintenance Fund for local government tax distributions.

Added Section 11 allocating $4,215,393 from the Elections Support Fund for voting equipment, supplies, and election official training.

Added Section 12 allocating $11,000,000 from the Public Trust Tidelands Fund to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.

Added Section 13 allocating $1,000,000 for cybersecurity and election integrity expenses.

Added Section 15 allocating $6,299,732 for the Broadwater Marina Restoration Project.

TECHNICAL

Formatting changes including removal of page headers and footers, and reorganization of sections from 1-17 in the final version compared to the original 1-8 structure.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 19, 2025 · House Feb 27, 2025

How they voted

50–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 51

Feb 19, 2025

D Democratic16

16 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican35

34 Yea 1

97% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 27, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed As Amended

lower

Feb 27, 2025

Lower · Passed

Amended

lower

Feb 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass As Amended

lower

Feb 20, 2025

Committee

Referred To Appropriations D;Appropriations A

lower

Feb 20, 2025

Introduced

Transmitted To House

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed

upper

Feb 18, 2025

Upper · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass

upper

Feb 17, 2025

Committee

Referred To Appropriations

upper

1 primary · 4 co-sponsors