NATCHEZ — The Mississippi legislature has been in session since the beginning of January, but the area’s legislators say this week is when the real work starts.

Monday is the deadline for the filing of bills or constitutional amendments. Tuesday, the various legislative committees will start conducting hearings about the pieces of legislation that have been assigned to them.

But that isn’t to say that the legislature hasn’t been working in some way. Rep. Sam Mims, R-McComb, said one change the legislature has made to its joint operating rules is very exciting.

“The rules change is historic because it says now during the appropriation process, if members of the legislature want to increase a particular item of the budget or the budget of a particular agency, they also have to say where that money is coming from,” Mims said. “You have to tell the public which agency you are going to cut from or where you are going to get the money from.”

Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said the rules change essentially eliminated the ability of legislators to put forward budget amendments from the floor.

“I think it was an unnecessary step, a cumbersome step,” he said. “The idea that it will help us balance our budget will not work. We know through trial and error over the last 100 years what works and what won’t, and stifling members’ ability to amend from the floor doesn’t lend itself to good legislating.”

Sen. Kelvin Butler, D-Magnolia, said he felt the changes were an attempt to centralize the budgeting process into the hands of a select few. The state already has to have a balanced budget, he said.

“It does not limit the spending, it just reduces the number of people who have a say in the spending,” Butler said. “I feel like some of my voice has been taken. If I make an amendment that I want to add $30 million to education, I have to say right then where I want to take it from.”

Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, said she’s spent the past weeks meeting with as many constituents and constituent stakeholders as she can. She’s also serving on the appropriations committee, and like the others, Sojourner said the budget will be a point of major scrutiny in the coming weeks.

The hearings that will start Tuesday will set the tone for the rest of the session, Sojourner said.

“There will be a lot of focus on the budget, and I am looking forward to that because what we get done in the budget will determine what we can do legislatively past that,” Sojourner said.

Rep. Angela Cockerham could not be reached for comment.