Tate Reeves to deliver his first State of the State this evening

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves will deliver his first State of the State address Monday at 5 p.m.

Reeves will deliver the speech outdoors on the south lawn of the State Capitol, taking advantage of the stage and seating area built for his inauguration on Jan. 14. That ceremony was moved indoors to the House chamber due to inclement weather. With better weather forecast tonight, the State of the State moves out of the House chamber where it is traditionally delivered.

Undoubtedly, one of the items Reeves will focus on is violence in the state’s prisons, which has taken 12 lives and injured countless inmates since Dec. 29, 2019. Nine of the deaths occurred at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman despite a lockdown limiting inmates’ movements and transferring hundreds of prisoners to other facilities.

Also, look for the governor to address workforce development and teacher pay, two areas Reeves focused on during his campaign. Last week, he signed his first bill to close the gap in teacher pay raises left open in the previous session due to an error. The bill allocated $18.4 million to teachers for the current budget year.