Senate And House Work To Finalize Language On Important Bills
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REPORT TO THE PEOPLE
By Tommy Reynolds
District 33 Representative
The 2022 Legislative session has considered significant changes that Mississippi has needed for a long time. I am pleased to report that a number of those changes appear to be only a few steps from becoming law.
House Bill 698, which I authored, holds one of those changes.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, our society has become more aware and compassionate toward the mental health struggles of our fellow Mississippians. As you may have recently read, the state’s mental health system has been under serious federal review for a number of years. From our government branch, we are working to make corrections to the system’s deficits.
HB 698 amends state laws allowing creation of a court system for those suffering mental health issues. It revises the Rivers McGraw Mental Health Diversion Program by standardizing mental health courts statewide through the Administrative office of the Courts under the Supreme Court of Mississippi. I handled this bill on the House floor and the House passed the bill unanimously. An amended version passed the Senate unanimously as well. It has been sent back to the House for concurrence. We will consider the Senate’s suggested amendments and proceed accordingly.
Mississippi has developed a robust system of Drug Courts that are able to make rulings toward healing addictions and offering a more compassionate, yet effective justice system for addictive actions. We have seen many positive outcomes from these courts. We believe Mental Health Courts will offer similar outcomes. Fifteen percent of inmates are estimated to have serious mental health illnesses. Additional funding for mental health courts will hopefully be added this year.
I fully support the provisions of Senate Bill 2319. The measure authorizes the Department of Human Services to collaborate with the Treasurer to intercept unclaimed property to satisfy a child support debt. Unfortunately, there have been numerous instances of parents who do not honor court orders to provide child support. This bill provides one more way to make sure the custodial parent is provided appropriate help from the other parent. If there is any unclaimed property listed in the other parent’s name, the custodial parent will have a right to it, under this provision. The House passed an amended version of the bill unanimously and sent it back to the House for concurrence.
This is conference time, and the House sent its amended version of House Bill 530 back to the Senate for concurrence. This is the teacher pay bill. Raising the salaries of public school educators has been a top priority of both the House and the Senate during this session. The House’s amended version of the Senate-amended HB530 contains a larger pay raise than either chamber’s first effort. Teachers will receive about a $4,000 raise beginning with the new year on July 1, under this version. Additionally, like the original Senate measure, the revised HB530 allows significant step raises throughout an educator’s career. The $2,000 initial pay raise for teachers assistants also was put back into the bill. We are hopeful that the Senate will concur, and the bill will become law.
If I can be of assistance to you, please contact me. My email address is tureynolds2@gmail.com. My residential address is 1720 North Main Street, Water Valley, MS 38965, and my office address is P.O. Box 280, Charleston, MS 38921. My office phone number is 662-647-3203.
