Families as Allies is tracking these bills related to mental health, disabilities and children. The list sorts bills according to their content areas: mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice/criminal justice, education, special health care needs/healthcare, transparency and accountability and Medicaid. Inclusion on the list indicates the bill is related to the issue listed. It does not imply that we agree with or endorse it. 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.
General bills that are still alive have moved to the opposite chamber. That means Senate bills are now in the House, and House bills are now in the Senate. Appropriation bills (bills about funding) are on a later timetable.
Lt. Governor Hosemann has assigned some House bills to Senate committees, and Speaker White has assigned some Senate bills to House committees. Leadership will likely assign any unassigned bills soon. The hyperlink underneath each bill explains the latest action on the bill. General bills must be voted out of committee by April 2 to stay alive and move forward. Committee Chairs decide whether or not to bring bills up for debate and voting. They can choose not to bring up a bill, in which case it dies and does not move on.
Lt. Governor Hosemann and Speaker White will place bills that pass out of committee on the calendar to be voted on by the entire Senate or House.
To give feedback on a bill that leadership has assigned to a committee:
- 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, tell them why the members should vote it out of committee.
- If you do not believe the bill is a good idea, tell them why members should not vote it out of committee.
This link lists the chairs of each committee.
At this point in the session, you want to contact the committee chair in the OPPOSITE chamber from where the bill began. You can tell which chamber a bill started in by looking at the bill number. Senate Bill numbers start with SB, and House Bill numbers start with HB. (House and Senate Resolutions, Concurrent Resolutions and Senate Nominations sometimes follow different timelines than bills.)
Families as Allies does not typically take stances on legislation. Still, we look at bills’ consistency with the nationally accepted definition of family-driven practice, our core values (every child and family, excellence, partnership and accountability) and our core beliefs about families. These are our core beliefs about families:
- Families know their children better than anyone
- Families are their children’s strongest advocates
- Systems should follow laws and policies about families’ and children’s rights
