House Speaker Jason White on Monday night said legislators were working on a proposal to revive legislation to enhance the regulation of pharmacy benefit managers and may ask Gov. Tate Reeves to call a special legislative session later this week if legislators reach an agreement. The Speaker’s remarks came as lawmakers finalized the bulk of the state’s $7.36-billion budget for the next fiscal year to fund state agencies and signaled they will conclude their 2026 session by the end of the week. It also came just after the House passed a resolution that would extend the legislative session, at least “on paper,” to April 15, a legislative maneuver White said would give legislators flexibility to address any last-minute issues. The Senate is expected to agree to the resolution, which would buy lawmakers a little more time to haggle out some measures. The Speaker said those measures could include any last-minute snafus in an agreement to give teachers a pay raise, and efforts to revive measures to redraw Mississippi’s Supreme Court districts and pharmacy benefit manager reform. “If we can get an agreement on PBMs, we’re going to ask the governor to call a special session for one day, maybe later this week and see where we get on that,” White said. A proposal aimed at increasing the transparency of operations of pharmacy benefit managers, middlemen used by health insurance companies and self-insured employer plans, died in negotiations between the House and Senate, even as it became one of the major issues of the 2026 legislative session. Pharmacy benefit managers have increasingly drawn scrutiny from policymakers because of their opaque business practices, market consolidation and concerns that their practices are leading to increased drug prices with little accountability. White had already called on Reeves to call a special session to revive talks to pass legislation addressing pharmacy benefit managers. On Monday evening, he said lawmakers were “close” to reaching a new agreement that could prompt a special session within or at the end of the current regular one, which he also said could be as soon as Thursday. “We’re looking at some alternative language that a large portion of the independent (pharmacies) seem to support,” White said. “So we’re going to see where we get with that and with our friends at the other end of the building.” White declined to provide details on the new agreement in the works, but has previously attributed the earlier bill’s failure to the Senate’s inclusion of language mandating a dispensing fee on pharmaceuticals. The House’s original bill would have given independent pharmacists 90% of what they have been advocating for the past three years, White has said. The House plan, authored by Rep. Hank Zuber, a Republican from Ocean Springs, would have moved the regulation of pharmacy benefit managers from the Board of Pharmacy to the insurance commissioner. The Senate’s version, authored by Sen. Rita Parks, a Republican from Corinth, would have kept the regulation of pharmacy benefit managers at the Board of Pharmacy and added language to the House’s bill that she said independent pharmacists requested to ensure they are paid fairly and transparently for dispensing drugs to patients. Independent pharmacists have warned year after year that if legislators do not pass reform legislation, their businesses may be forced to close. They say the companies’ low reimbursements and unfair business practices have left them struggling to break even.  The Trump administration and Reeves have also gotten involved in the dispute.  In a memo dated March 18, the Trump administration urged the House to invite further negotiations on the bill to remove a provision that would interfere with TrumpRx, a government-run website launched in February that offers cash discounts for prescription drugs.  Reeves later met with lawmakers to discuss the legislation, where Senate negotiators said he encouraged the chambers to find language that they can agree on so pharmacy benefit manager reform can be passed. Last year, a pharmacy benefit reform bill made it to a similar stage in the legislative process but died in the House after a lawmaker raised a procedural challenge. Mississippi Today reporter Gwen Dilworth contributed to this report ...read more read less