Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. The Mississippi Legislature reconvened in Jackson on Wednesday for a special session called by Gov. Tate Reeves to consider an overhaul of the state’s youth court system, which fizzled at the end of the regular sess ion this year and caused some of the laws and funding for youth court to sunset. But lawmakers faced a major problem: The House chamber in the Capitol is undergoing major renovation and is currently unusable. So, the House is meeting blocks away in the Old Capitol, which is now mostly a museum, while the Senate is meeting in its regular chamber at the Capitol on High Street. The logistics, plus the session being announced by the governor somewhat impromptu on Tuesday afternoon, caused for some scrambling by staff, and grumbling by lawmakers. Members of the state House recite the Pledge of Allegiance during a special legislative session at the Old Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayMembers of the state House gather for a special legislative session at the Old Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayMembers of the state House gather for a special legislative session at the Old Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayMembers of the state House gather for a special legislative session at the Old Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayHouse Speaker Jason White speaks during a special legislative session at the Old Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayDemocratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory addresses the Senate chamber in a special legislative session at the Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi TodayThe state Senate met for a special legislative session focused on youth court reform at the Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann presides over the Senate in a special legislative session at the Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi TodayDemocratic Sen. Kamesha Mumford of Jackson in the Senate chamber in a special legislative session at the Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi TodayRepublican Sen. Nicole Boyd of Oxford chats with Republican Sen. Bart Williams of Starkville in the Senate chamber in a special legislative session at the Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi TodayMembers of the state House pray during a special legislative session at the Old Capitol in Jackson on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Credit: Richard Lake/Mississippi Today READ MORE: Reeves: Special session will overhaul Mississippi’s ‘fragmented’ youth court system. Here’s how Some lawmakers were at the Southern Legislative Conference in Kentucky when they caught wind Tuesday that they needed to be in Jackson 24 hours later. As lawmakers scrambled to get to Jackson from that conference and from every corner of the state, they received instructions from House staff on how logistics would work at the Old Capitol. In a text message to lawmakers obtained by Mississippi Today, House members were instructed by Speaker Jason White’s staff to park at the nearby Two Mississippi Museums, where they would then be transported to the Old Capitol on covered golf carts. Lawmakers are considering reforms to the state’s youth court system that would lead to more full-time judges presiding over cases, the creation of two new state-run juvenile jails and the fixing of expired statutes that have led to several lawsuits. In total, the proposals call for $29.5 million in new spending on the youth court system.  Democratic leaders in both chambers said their caucus had “neither seen nor been meaningfully engaged in negotiating,” and some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers said they knew little about the agreement before their return to Jackson. After gaveling in for a few minutes and honoring two former House members who died last month, Republican Rep. Price Wallace and Democratic Rep. Bo Brown, Speaker Jason White said the House would adjourn until the Senate advanced the youth court legislation. The Senate Judiciary A Committee began debating the reform measure on Wednesday evening, where Sen. Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula who leads the committee, said Mississippi’s current youth court system of part-time referees in rural areas handling youth court cases is failing children. “The system of referees and the hodgepodge system were not working,” Wiggins said. “It’s certainly not returning outcomes we want and need.” Before the committee meeting, Sen. Hob Bryan, a Democrat from Amory, attempted but failed through a parliamentary move on Wednesday to simply have lawmakers do away with the sunsets on current laws and funding, and give lawmakers more time to work out an overhaul later. Bryan said the issue is too important to deal with in a hastily called special session, and that some input from “the 3 million people in this state who might also have some ideas about this matter” should be considered. But Reeves and other proponents of the special session proposal said much work, over a long time, has gone into the bills being presented this week. Lawmakers worked into Wednesday night, expecting to return Thursday, with continuing into Friday or beyond a possibility. Lawmakers had been set to reconvene at the Old Capitol building in May to redraw state Supreme Court districts, but Reeves ultimately called that special session off. The Old Capitol is the site where Mississippi lawmakers once implemented Jim Crow and voted to secede from the Union over slavery. The plan to host a special session there on redistricting drew fierce criticism from Democratic lawmakers, most of whom are Black. As of now, Reeves has not called a special session on redistricting. ...read more read less