Amendment_Report_for

SECTION 1. The following sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the State Treasury to the credit of the Department of Transportation, for the purpose of defraying the administrative expenses of the Mississippi Department of Transportation for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025..................................................

............................................ $ 1,418,308,055.00.

SECTION 2. The following offices are supported by the funds appropriated in Section 1: The Office of Administrative Services, the Office of Highways and the Office of Aeronautics and Rails. Of the funds appropriated under the provisions of Section 1, the following positions are authorized:

AUTHORIZED HEADCOUNT:

Permanent: 2,698

Time-Limited: 0

With the funds herein appropriated, it shall be the agency's responsibility to make certain that funds required for Personal Services for Fiscal Year 2026 do not exceed Fiscal Year 2025 funds appropriated for that purpose unless programs or positions are added to the agency's Fiscal Year 2025 budget by the Mississippi Legislature. The Legislature shall determine the agency's personal services appropriation, which the State Personnel Board shall publish. In accordance with applicable laws, if an agency determines that its personal services amount is insufficient, the agency must contact the State Personnel Board. Any adjustment to the personal services amount must be approved by the State Personnel Director and the State Fiscal Officer after consultation with the Legislative Budget Office. Any adjustment shall be reported to the Legislative Budget Office and the House and Senate Appropriations Chairmen. The agency's personal services appropriation may consist of restricted funds for approved vacancies for Fiscal Year 2025 that may not be utilized for active Fiscal Year 2024 headcount. It shall be the agency's responsibility to ensure that the funds provided for vacancies are used to increase headcount and not for promotions, title changes, in-range salary adjustments, or any other mechanism for increasing salaries for current employees. If the State Personnel Board determines that an agency has used provided vacancy funds for any of the mechanisms previously listed, the State Personnel Board shall not process any additional salary actions for the agency in the current fiscal year, except for new hires determined by the State Personnel Board to be essential for the agency. It is the Legislature's intention that no employee salary falls below the minimum salary established by the Mississippi State Personnel Board.

Additionally, the State Personnel Board shall determine and publish the projected annualized payroll costs based on current employees. It shall be the responsibility of the agency head to ensure that actual personnel expenditures for Fiscal Year 2025 do not exceed the data provided by the Legislative Budget Office. If the agency's projected cost for Fiscal Year 2025 exceeds the annualized costs, no salary actions shall be processed by the State Personnel Board except for new hires determined to be essential for the agency.

Any transfers or escalations shall be made in accordance with the terms, conditions, and procedures established by law or allowable under the terms set forth within this act. The State Personnel Board shall not escalate positions without written approval from the Department of Finance and Administration. The Department of Finance and Administration shall not provide written approval to escalate any funds for salaries and/or positions without proof of availability of new or additional funds above the appropriated level.

No general funds authorized to be expended herein shall be used to replace federal funds and/or other special funds used for salaries authorized under the provisions of this act and which are withdrawn and no longer available.

None of the funds herein appropriated shall be used in violation of the Internal Revenue Service's Publication 15-A relating to the reporting of income paid to contract employees, as interpreted by the Office of the State Auditor.

SECTION 3. Of the funds appropriated to the Mississippi Department of Transportation under the provisions of Section 1, the following amounts shall be available for expenditure in the program budgets as required by Section 27-103-127, Mississippi Code of 1972:

Administration and Other Expenses......... $ 62,326,264.00

Construction............................. $ 978,634,918.00

Maintenance............................. $ 263,035,591.00

Debt Service............................. $ 78,353,744.00

Aeronautics, Rails and other.............. $ 35,957,538.00

SECTION 4. It is the intention of the Legislature that the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall maintain complete accounting and personnel records related to the expenditure of all funds appropriated under this act and that such records shall be in the same format and level of detail as maintained for Fiscal Year 2024. It is further the intention of the Legislature that the agency's budget request for Fiscal Year 2026 shall be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in a format and level of detail comparable to the format and level of detail provided during the Fiscal Year 2025 budget request process.

SECTION 5. Of the funds appropriated in Section 1, it is the intention of the Legislature that Six Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($650,000.00) shall be transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Commerce for the Beaver Control or Eradication Program during the Fiscal Year 2025.

SECTION 6. Of the funds appropriated in Section 1 and authorized for expenditure in Section 3, Five Million Dollars ($5,000,000.00) shall be transferred by the Mississippi Department of Transportation to the Department of Public Safety Office of Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division for the operations of the Division consistent with Sections 77-7-330, Mississippi Code of 1972.

SECTION 7. Of the funds appropriated in Section 1 of this act, the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall expend such funds as necessary to conduct project planning. Such project planning shall apply to all preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction projects of the department and, at a minimum, shall consist of policies for the oversight and management of project cost which:

(a) Establish a reasonable cost estimate for each project. For purposes of this provision, projects include preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction;

(b) Capture and retain the initial project cost estimates for comparison with final actual expenditures;

(c) Require that any changes to a cost estimate for a project will be reviewed and approved by district or central office personnel. Such personnel shall be responsible for signing any revision, and providing a narrative description of the reasons for approving a revision;

(d) Capture the cost of consultants, engineers, attorneys, contract appraisers and other technical and professional contractors used in preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction projects.

SECTION 8. None of the funds appropriated under the provisions of Section 1 of this act may be expended by the Department of Transportation for construction of new highways if such highway segment is less than ten (10) miles in length unless:

(a) The explanation and justification for letting such a contract for a length of less than ten (10) miles is entered upon the official minutes of the Transportation Commission;

(b) The commission, within ten (10) working days after entry of its explanation and justification upon its minutes, gives notice, by United States First Class Mail, and provides a copy of such entry upon its minutes, to the Chairman of the Transportation Committee of the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Chairman of the Mississippi Senate Highways and Transportation Committee.

SECTION 9. It is the intention of the Legislature that of the sum appropriated in Section 1, the Department is authorized to provide a protective footwear allowance of not more than Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) per person annually for Engineers, Maintenance, and Construction Workers as part of their safety equipment.

SECTION 10. Of the funds appropriated to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000.00) shall be used for the Statewide Litter Prevention Program.

SECTION 11. Of the funds appropriated in Section 1, not less than Eighty Million Dollars ($80,000,000.00) shall be expended for contracted maintenance overlay and pavement rehabilitation.

SECTION 12. It is the intention of the Legislature that the Mississippi Department of Transportation is authorized to transfer between the various programs in an amount not to exceed ten percent (10%) of the amount allocated in Section 3, except that no transfers shall be authorized which increase the "Administrative and Other Expenses" Program or which decrease the "Maintenance" Program.

SECTION 13. It is the intention of the Legislature that the Mississippi Department of Transportation is authorized to expend an amount not to exceed Thirty Million Dollars ($30,000,000.00) received from other public or private entities as reimbursements for payments made on federal projects.

SECTION 14. With the funds appropriated in this act, the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall notify members of the Mississippi Senate and House of Representatives upon the award of projects within their respective districts and at least five (5) days prior to a public ceremony announcing the award of any grant in their district or any public announcement of ceremony regarding the groundbreaking or opening of a facility, roadway or bridge for which the Legislature has made funds available. Any signage regarding any public event or any new facility, roadway or bridge shall include the following language: "Funds were made available for this project by the Mississippi State Legislature." Further, the signage shall state the four-year legislative term in which the project was funded.

SECTION 15. It is the intention of the Legislature that whenever two (2) or more bids are received by this agency for the purchase of commodities or equipment, and whenever all things stated in such received bids are equal with respect to price, quality and service, the Mississippi Industries for the Blind shall be given preference. A similar preference shall be given to the Mississippi Industries for the Blind whenever purchases are made without competitive bids.

SECTION 16. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is authorized to dispose of or transfer used cell phones that are obsolete or inoperable to cell phone recycling programs dedicated to providing free phone access to United States military personnel.

SECTION 17. In compliance with the "Mississippi Performance Budget and Strategic Planning Act of 1994," it is the intent of the Legislature that the funds provided herein shall be utilized in the most efficient and effective manner possible to achieve the intended mission of this agency. Based on the funding authorized, this agency shall make every effort to attain the targeted performance measures provided below:

FY2025

Performance Measures Target

Maintenance

Number of Acres Mowed (First & Subsequent) 290,000

Percent Increase of Acreage Mowed 0.66

Slow the Expected Increases of Total

Fatalities According to a 5 Year Rolling

Average (697 or Less) 763.00

Percent Decrease in State-Maintained

Lane Miles Needing Repair or

Rehabilitation 3.50

Percent of Pavement Needs Met Annually 0.12

Percent of 4 Lane Highway Lane-Miles

with an Acceptable Pavement Condition

Rating 78.00

Percent of Interstate Lane-Miles with an

Acceptable Pavement Condition Rating 73.00

Percent of 2 Lane Highway Lane-Miles

with an Acceptable Pavement Condition

Rating 70.00

Cost per Mile to Maintain State Highways 26,499

Number of Bridges in Poor Condition 170

Number of Bridges with Timber Components 105

Construction

Percent of Miles of State Maintained

Highways that Meet MDOT Thresholds for

Congestion 2.11

Number of Lane Miles of State Maintained

Highways Requiring Additional Capacity 591.46

Cost per Mile to Construct State Highways 21,000,000.00

Administration & Other

Administration as a Percent of Total Budget 4.25

GO-MDOT-Total Number of Page Views 1,131,089

Percent Increase in Utilization of

MDOTTRAFFIC.com Website 4.25

Bonded Debt Service

MDOT's Share of Annual Debt Service will

Not Exceed 3.75% of Annual Budget 0.74

Aeronautics & Rails

Number of Airports Inspected 69

Number of Grade Crossings Inspected 2,100

A reporting of the degree to which the performance targets set above have been or are being achieved shall be provided in the agency's budget request submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee for Fiscal Year 2026.

SECTION 18. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is authorized to accept and expend any grant, donation, or contribution from any individual, public, or private organization, or government entity for purposes of defraying the operational costs of the department. Such grants, donations or contributions shall be received and expended under the rules and regulations of the Department of Finance and Administration in a manner consistent with the escalation of federal funds not to exceed One Hundred Twenty-five Million Dollars ($125,000,000.00).

SECTION 19. With the funds appropriated herein, the Mississippi Department of Transportation is authorized to make payments for expenses incurred during prior fiscal years for an amount not to exceed Forty-six Thousand Nine Hundred Thirteen Dollars and Ninety-one Cents ($46,913.91).

SECTION 20. In addition to all other funds appropriated herein, the following sums, or so much thereof as may be necessary is appropriated out of the following funds in the State Treasury to the credit of the Department of Transportation for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025:

(a) 2022 Capacity Project Fund for the purposes provided in Section 65-1-141.2, Mississippi Code of 1972............................

............................................ $ 250,000,000.00.

(b) 2022 Infrastructure Match Fund for the purposes provided in Section 65-1-183, Mississippi Code of 1972....

............................................ $ 40,000,000.00.

............................................ $ 60,000,000.00.

(d) Strategic Multi-Modal Investments Fund for the purposes provided in Section 65-1-901, Mississippi Code of 1972...........

.............................................. $ 20,000,000.00

(e) 2023 DeSoto County Infrastructure Improvement Funds for the purposes provided in Section 65-1-185, Mississippi Code of 1972. $ 25,000,000.00

(f) 2023 Lafayette County Infrastructure Improvement Funds for the purposes provided in Section 65-1-187, Mississippi Code of 1972. $ 15,000,000.00

(g) 2023 Gulfport Commerce Corridor Fund for the purposes provided in Section 65-1-189, Mississippi Code of 1972...................

.............................................. $ 15,400,000.00

(h) 2022 Local Improvements Projects Fund for the purposes provided in Section 27-104-371.......................... $ 5,600,000.00.

SECTION 21. It is the intent of the Legislature that the funds appropriated in Section 20 subsection (c) of this act shall be expended on the projects included in the 2022 ERBR Solicitation.

SECTION 22. It is the intention of the Legislature that the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall expend such funds appropriated in Section 20 subsection (a), (b) and (c) as necessary to conduct project planning. Such project planning shall apply to all preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction projects of the department and, at a minimum, shall consist of policies for the oversight and management of project cost which:

(a) Establish a reasonable cost estimate for each project. For purposes of this provision, projects include preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction;

(b) Capture and retain the initial project cost estimates for comparison with final actual expenditures;

SECTION 23. As a condition of receiving and expending the funds appropriated to the department in Section 20 subsection (d) of this act, the department shall ensure at least Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000.00) is allocated to port projects.

SECTION 24. The money herein appropriated shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of any money in the State Treasury to the credit of the proper fund or funds as set forth in this act, upon warrants issued by the State Fiscal Officer; and the State Fiscal Officer shall issue his warrants upon requisitions signed by the proper person, officer or officers, in the manner provided by law.

SECTION 25. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024, and shall stand repealed June 29, 2024.