Mississippi legislators have introduced over 2,000 bills in this year’s legislative session. We’ve created this list of bills related to mental health, disabilities and children listed on the Mississippi state legislature’s website as of January 24, 2022. The list sorts bills according to these content areas: mental health, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, Medicaid, special health care needs, disability rights, transparency/access to information and “other.”
We included bills on the list because of the topics they cover; being on the list does not imply that we agree with or endorse the bill. Families as Allies does not typically take stances on legislation. Still, we want you to have as much information as possible so that you can advocate for what you think is best for your children and family.
You can contact legislators about legislation by using the Legislators tab at the top of the website. If you would like assistance in looking up a piece of legislation or contacting a policymaker, feel free to reach out to us.
Here is what the prefixes of bills mean:
- SB – Senate Bill
- HB – House Bill
- SC – Senate Concurrent Resolution
- HC – House Concurrent Resolution
- SR – Senate Resolution
- HR – House Resolution
- SN – Senate Nomination
To read what a bill says on our list, click on the bill number. To find out what is happening with a bill, click on the hyperlink underneath the bill. The hyperlink will take you to a page with information about that bill.
About halfway down the page, a section titled History of Actions will tell you what is currently happening with the bill. Right below History of Actions is the committee to which the bill was referred. As of now, most bills have just recently gone to committees.
Committee chairs decide which bills will come up for a vote in their committees. Bills not voted on in committee do not progress and will not become law. That’s what it means for a bill to die. The deadline for bills to be voted out of committee is February 1. Most bills will die on that day. Those still alive will be placed on the calendar to be voted on by the full House or Senate. You can learn more about how a bill becomes a law here.
One of the quickest and most effective ways to give feedback on a bill at this point in the session is to call the Capitol switchboard at (601) 359-3770 and ask them to deliver a message to the relevant committee chair. If you think the bill is a good idea, say that it should be brought out of committee and why. If you do not think the bill is a good idea, say that you do not believe it should be brought out of committee and why. This link lists the chairperson of each committee.
To find a specific bill not on our list, use the legislation tab on the website, and go to the bottom of the page to click on “select a measure.” Then choose HB (for house bill) or SB (for senate bill) and fill in the number of the bill. If you don’t know the number of a bill, you can also search by text, committee, or legislator at the top of the page.
Please join us for our Leadership and Policy Discussion on January 26 at 12:00 p.m. to learn more about the legislative process. We will discuss how to look up and read proposed bills and some bills that might be of particular interest to families. Leadership training graduates are strongly encouraged to attend, but the meetings are open to anyone interested in learning more about policy.
