Health advocates are holding public meetings around the state this week to seek support for an increase in Mississippi’s cigarette tax.

A half-dozen legislative negotiators will meet again next Tuesday afternoon at the state Capitol. They met this week and couldn’t agree on a plan.

Mississippi’s cigarette excise tax of 18 cents a pack is the third-lowest in the nation.

The latest House proposal is to set it at 75 cents a pack. The latest Senate plan is 64 cents.

Legislators want to agree on a cigarette tax before they finish a state spending plan for the year that begins July 1. The full House and Senate likely will return to the Capitol in early May to complete the budget.

The bill is House Bill 364.