Reeves has expressed his desire to find additional money for infrastructure twice in 2018. On Monday, he told reporters that he wasn’t ready to give details about how he will divert the money prior to April 1, 2018, the last day of the 2018 session. House Speaker Philip Gunn, who passed three pieces of legislation relating to roads funding through his chamber in the first week 2018 legislative session, contrasts the second term lieutenant governor’s approach. Reeves stated Monday at the Stennis Institute press club luncheon that three bills were passed by the House of Representatives last week. “I noticed that all of them take effect on July 1, 2018, – one of them would take effect July 1, 2020, so I’m not sure what the rush is for that.” Reeves said later that he wasn’t going to be more specific. “There will come a time for it, and as the legislative process goes on, we’ll certainly get further specific, but at the moment, I’m not ready to do that.” Reeves tried to force Gunn to act last week, but he quickly showed his commitment to the issue. Gunn and Reeves fought over an infrastructure funding package. Gunn held three spending bills hostage to leverage during conference committee negotiations. This forced a special session. Reeves must assign the following House bills to Senate before they can be considered for consideration: * House Bill 357 authorizes municipalities to sell bonds to pay for infrastructure repairs. * House Bill 354 allows for the transfer of surplus revenue beyond the 98 per cent in the budget proposal to state transportation department, counties, and cities. * House Bill 359 would place a moratorium upon any new road construction, if the right-of-way has not been purchased. Later, the bill was amended to include a loophole for economic development projects. Reeves did not say whether he supported any of these measures. Instead, he left the possibility open for any outcome to those bills or his new plan. Reeves stated, “I will say that it is possible that the House bills will solve our infrastructure problems. The Senate may simply pass them as they are and move on to the next topic.” The Mississippi Economic Council, which is the chamber of commerce in the state, stated that the state requires at least $375million per year to improve its infrastructure. Officials from the Mississippi Department of Transportation have stated that the state requires up to $400 million annually. One source of funding that could be diverted to the Department of Transportation would be raising the 18.4-cent gas tax. This has the support of many senators, including some Republicans. Reeves, a strong Republican who has long decried tax increases, stated on Monday that he doesn’t support raising the gas tax. Reeves stated that he does not believe that 32 senators will vote to increase the gas tax.