House Speaker Philip Gunn announced House Committees on Friday, Jan. 20. Rep. Herb Frierson will serve as chair of Appropriations, while Rep. Jeff Smith will chair Ways and Means. The Education Committee will be chaired by John Moore.

Other key committee chairs include as Rep. Sam Mims as chair of Public Health and Human Services, Rep. Robert Johnson as chair of Transportation, Nolan Mettetal as chair of Universities and Colleges, Rep. Bill Denny as chair of Apportioinment and Elections, and Rep. Mark Baker as chair of Judiciary A.

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Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves announced Senate committee chairs and members on Friday.

Among the key appointments are Sen. Joey Fillingane as chair of the Finance Committee, Sen. Buck Clarke as chair of Appropriations, and Sen. Gray Tollison will chair the education committee.

Other key committee chairs include Sen. Dean Kirby as chair of Public Health and Welfare, Sen. Willie Simmons as chair of Highways and Transportation, Sen. Terry Burton chair of Universities and Colleges, Sen. Chris McDainels as chair of Elections, and Sen. Briggs Hopson as chair of Judiciary A.

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The 2011 Legislative session ended on Thursday – with a budget - but without a redistricting plan.

The two chambers failed to come to an agreement on redistricting as the Senate rejected the initial House plan and did not act on a last minute attempt by the House to include a slightly revised plan in Senate resolution.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant said if a compromised could be reached he would ask Gov. Haley Barbour to consider calling a special session to deal with the issue. If the two chambers fail to reach a compromise the redistricting issue will be settled in the Federal courts.

While the session was extended slightly for the purposes of finishing the state budget, Lawmakers did not go beyond the 90 days allotted for the session. Instead they used days they had taken off earlier in the session due to bad weather.

The $5.5 billion budget calls for almost $3.2 billion to be spent on education, with $2.251 billion for K-12, $701.5 Million for the Institutions of Higher Learning, and $233 Million for Community Colleges.

The Mississippi Legislature on Monday passed a $38 million bond bill to construct a State History Museum and a State Civil Rights Museum. The legislation, which was described by many lawmakers as historic, passed overwhelming in the House and Senate.

The Mississippi Economic Council delivered a letter of support to all members of the legislature on Monday detailing numerous benefits of the project. The letter was delivered prior to the final negotiations on the bill.

In January, Gov. Haley Barbour  called for funding of the civil rights museum in his State of the State address. During the session, some lawmakers had requested a provision be provided to require money be raised from the private sector prior to construction beginning. In a compromise the legislation allows for the construction phase to begin now, but calls for matching local, private or federal money to be raised, before state money can be allocated for exhibits.

The bill calls for $20 million for the Civil Rights Museum and $18 million ($2 million was allocated earlier) for the State History Museum. While seperate facilities, the building will be build adjacent to one another on state-owned property in downtown Jackson that overlooks the fairgrounds.

The goal is for the building to be completed by 2017, the bi-centinal of Mississippi's statehood.

The total cost of the project is expected to be about $66 million and will include a parking facility that will be shared by the two museums.