Editor’s note: This list will be updated throughout the legislative session. It was last updated on March 6.
Close to 3,000 bills were filed for the 2024 session of the Mississippi Legislature. Likely only a third or so will become law. The deadline for bills to pass from their initial committees was March 5. Taxing and spending bills face later deadlines, with the session scheduled to end on May 5.
Mississippi health care — including the intertwined crises of hundreds of thousands of uninsured people and hospitals facing financial disaster — is front and center with lawmakers this year.
Here are some bills filed to date to address health care issues and their status.
Scope of practice, facilities
Senate Bill 2064, authored by Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune, would repeal the state’s certificate of need law. CON laws require health care providers to get permission from the state before adding or expanding some healthcare facilities or services. Proponents, including many hospital leaders, say they help control costs, ensure quality of care and availability of services such as emergency rooms. Opponents, including Gov. Tate Reeves, say they stifle free-market competition. Dead.
Senate Bill 2140, authored by Sen. J. Walter Michel, R-Ridgeland, would streamline “prior authorization,” the process by which insurance companies decide which medications and procedures are covered for consumers. After passing unanimously in the Senate, and with a few revisions also the House, it became law without the governor’s signature. Last year, Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a similar bill. He wrote in a social media post on Feb. 29, “I am allowing Senate Bill 2140 to become law because I agree that it is a significant improvement over its predecessor and that reform of the prior authorization process is much needed. That being said, I cannot put my signature on this bill because of its potential effects on the premiums paid by state employees.” Alive.
Senate Bill 2080, authored by Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, seeks to introduce the state’s first licensed midwifery program. As it stands, anyone can practice midwifery in Mississippi, but those who want certification have to go out of state — meaning Mississippi, a state riddled with health care deserts and the highest infant and maternal mortality rates, loses out on provider care. Dead.
Senate Bill 2079, authored by Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, would abolish nurse practitioner collaboration agreements. These agreements are financial contracts whereby NPs who want to practice in Mississippi must pay a physician with whom they are “in collaboration” with. These contracts can be expensive and sometimes have distance limitations, meaning rural areas lose out on care because NPs aren’t allowed to practice too far from their collaborating physicians — who are mostly based in urban areas. Dead.
House Bill 976 by Rep. Manly Barton, R-Moss Point, would expand podiatrists’ scope of practice to allow them to perform ankle surgeries, bringing Mississippi’s law in line with 48 other states. Dead.
Medicaid
House Bill 539, authored by Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, introduces presumptive eligibility for pregnant women. It was sent to the governor after passing overwhelmingly in the House and Senate. If approved by the governor, it would allow low-income pregnant women to receive timely prenatal care while they wait for their Medicaid application to be officially approved — which can sometimes take months. Alive.
House Bill 1725, authored by Speaker Jason White, R-West, and Rep. Missy McGee, R-Hattiesburg, would expand Medicaid eligibility to able bodied adults making up to 138% of the federal poverty level or about $20,000 annually for an individual. The bill contains a work requirement for recipients of Medicaid expansion, but states that the expansion would go into effect even if the federal government does not approve the work requirement. It passed the House overwhelmingly and now heads to the Senate. Alive.
Senate Bill 2735, authored by Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, would expand Medicaid eligibility to 138% of the federal poverty level but, unlike the House expansion bill, it would be contingent on the federal government approving a work requirement. It would also require recipients to pay premiums on a sliding scale. It passed committee and now heads to a floor vote. Alive.
Reproductive health and rights
House Bill 32, authored by Rep. Becky Currie, R-Brookhaven, would direct the Mississippi State Department of Health to have a nurse practitioner available at each county health department at least one day a week to provide and prescribe contraception. The bill would also mandate that contraception be made affordable on a sliding scale, and that it be made available to minors who are parents, married, have the permission of their parent or legal guardian, or have been referred for the service by another physician, nurse practitioner, clergyman, family planning clinic, school or institution of higher learning, or any state agency. Dead.
Senate Bill 2153, by Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, would establish legal protections and rights for the parents of children born via surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. Dead.
Mental health
House Bill 336, by Rep. Kevin Felsher, R-Biloxi, would require counties to pay for psychiatric treatment for an indigent resident who has been ordered into treatment by a judge through the civil commitment process, if no publicly funded bed is available. It would cap the cost to the county at no more than the Medicaid reimbursement rate, and it would prohibit counties from jailing going through the commitment process someone solely because they lack a payor source. Dead.
House Bill 415, by Rep. Kevin Felsher, R-Biloxi, would prohibit counties from jailing someone without criminal charges while they go through the civil commitment process unless they are awaiting transportation to a medical facility and it is necessary for protective custody. Any such jail detentions would be limited to 72 hours. Dead.
Read Mississippi Today’s coverage of jail detentions during the civil commitment process here.
House Bill 990, by Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, would create a tax on vape products and use the revenue to increase patient housing at the community mental health centers and to create a fund for the Department of Mental Health’s 988 Crisis Response System. The bill was referred to the House Public Health and Ways and Means committees.
House Bill 1044, by Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, would provide for the establishment and licensure of long-term adult supportive residential facilities for people with mental illness, and would direct Medicaid to cover the services at such facilities. The bill was referred to the House Medicaid and Appropriations A committees. Dead.
House Bill 1640, by Rep. Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, would limit jail detentions for people going through the civil commitment process to 24 hours, and require a determination that the person jailed is “actively violent” and that alternatives have been explored. It would also reform the civil commitment process by requiring a mental health screening before someone can be detained, and requiring hearings to occur within three to five days of evaluations, instead of seven to 10 days under current law. The bill passed the House public health committee with no opposition. Alive.
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