Lawmakers to revisit familiar, fraught endeavor: consolidating state agencies and boards

2026 legislative session begins today

As the Mississippi Legislature convenes today, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann hopes to do something lawmakers have tried and failed to accomplish for nearly a century: reorganize state government.

An effort to do so last year failed. Proponents argue that reorganization could save taxpayers millions while critics warn of potential service disruptions. The state has roughly 200 boards and commissions overseeing everything from acupuncture to veterinary medicine. That number has remained largely unchanged for decades. Hosemann believes many of them serve no clear purpose.

“We’re committed to good, conservative government that works by investing in education, growing our workforce, supporting families and streamlining state government to better serve you and reduce your taxes,” Hosemann said in outlining his plans at the Neshoba County Fair last summer, according to a news release from his office.

The Senate’s Government Structure Committee, Hosemann said, “is reviewing the state’s organizational chart for opportunities to merge, streamline, reduce duplication, and cut costs and ‘red tape.’”

A long pattern of failure

Mississippi’s attempts at government reorganization date back nearly a century. They have almost always failed.

“One of the most difficult, if not least productive exercises undertaken in Mississippi in the last half-century has been the recurring effort to reorganize the executive branch of state government,” wrote Thomas E. Kynerd in his book Administrative Reorganization of Mississippi Government.

In 1932, the Institute for Government Research at Brookings studied Mississippi’s government and described its organization as “chaotic.” The recommended improvements were “shouted down.”

“Nearly twenty years later, the governor decided it was time to reorganize state government and asked the legislature to develop a plan,” Kynerd wrote. “The plan was prepared with much enthusiasm by a legislative committee, with the full support of every state agency. Everyone in state government seemed to feel that reorganization was long overdue. The plan, however, was not implemented.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Gil Carmichael made government reorganization a cornerstone of his 1975 campaign, believing it would take a constitutional convention to accomplish anything meaningful. Gov. Kirk Fordice pushed consolidation during his two terms in the 1990s with little success. Gov. Haley Barbour proposed 18 reorganization measures in 2009. The legislature rejected them.

The 1984 reorganization

The most significant structural change came not from a governor’s initiative but from a lawsuit.

While serving as attorney general in the early 1980s, Bill Allain filed suit asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to separate the functions of the executive and legislative branches, especially in the budgetary process. Legislators commonly served on boards and commissions in the executive branch—an arrangement that blurred accountability. Allain argued Mississippi’s 1890 Constitution required separation of powers and that legislative officials could not serve in the executive branch.

The Supreme Court ruled in his favor. Historian David Sansing wrote that “the ruling strengthened the executive branch of state government, especially the office of governor which is considered one of the weakest chief executives in the nation. The court’s mandate was carried out in the Administrative Reorganization Act of 1984.”

That reorganization gave the governor exclusive power to propose the state’s annual executive budget and removed legislators from agency boards. It did not reduce the number of agencies themselves.

Competing efficiency efforts

The current push for reorganization comes amid dueling efficiency efforts from Republican state officials.

State Auditor Shad White released “Project Momentum” in late 2024, calling it “the largest audit of waste in Mississippi government in decades.” White hired Boston Consulting Group to examine 13 state agencies and identify potential savings.

“I believe that Project Momentum is the most important project we will do in my time as State Auditor, because, if we take a chainsaw to all this fat, it will make government leaner and smarter for decades to come,” White proclaimed in a news release.

The report identified more than $335 million in potential savings—from selling the state airplane and consolidating IT contracts to reducing spending on office space. Recommendations included addressing “IT contracts that Mississippi pays more for than similarly-sized states,” “agencies owning too many vehicles that are underutilized,” and “Mississippi government spending more on insurance on state properties than even Florida.”

The $2 million study drew scrutiny. Attorney General Lynn Fitch, responding to a legislative request, opined that White lacked authority to commission the study without written approval from the governor or legislature.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who led a successful reorganization effort in his state, addressed the Senate Government Structure Committee in late 2024.

The cosmetology-barber merger

The legislature achieved one consolidation in 2024: combining the separate cosmetology and barber licensure boards into one.

The merger followed reports on both agencies. The barbering board had inspected fewer than 10 percent of shops and schools and had a 39 percent pass rate on exams. The cosmetology board was criticized for disorganized records and board overreach.

But the transition has been troubled. The new Board of Cosmetology and Barbering has had no confirmed members since April 2025, after the state Senate adjourned without approving Gov. Tate Reeves’ appointees. More than 50,000 licensed beauty professionals are now in regulatory limbo.

The merger caused confusion among some cosmetologists and barbers, who say the transition hasn’t been clearly explained. Schools cannot determine their licensing tier. New schools cannot open.

The Senate passed a reorganization bill unanimously last year, but it died in the House amid a session that ended without a budget agreement—the first time in 16 years that the legislature failed to fund state government. Senate Bill 2857 would have merged several smaller state boards and commissions into larger umbrella agencies. The bill’s sponsors contended that Mississippi’s sprawling bureaucracy creates redundancies that drain the state budget.

Hosemann has not said which specific agencies or boards he would target for consolidation. The Senate Government Structure Committee, now chaired by Sen. Tyler McCaughn (R-Newton), is expected to hold hearings during the upcoming session.