MississippiHB 19242026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

Appropriation; Attorney General.

Sponsored By: Sam C. Mims, V (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Appropriations DAppropriations AAppropriations

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

24 provisions identified: 14 benefits, 2 costs, 8 mixed.

More addiction care and trained staff

These opioid-settlement grants run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Pathway Healthcare gets $4 million for hospital representatives, expanded intensive outpatient care, Pathway for Mothers, and mobile units for isolated areas. ARCare, doing business as MSCare, gets $900,000 for addiction treatment and workforce training and mentorship. The Mississippi Hospital Association gets $2.1 million to train emergency department staff. Staff training focuses on spotting opioid-related crises and referring patients to treatment and community resources.

More recovery support for mothers

Opioid-settlement funding runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Mercy House gets $3 million to remodel and expand its recovery campus in Learned, Mississippi. The campus serves women with opioid-use disorder, including women with children. MS PHI gets $183,750 to build a trained, lasting peer-support workforce. That support serves pregnant and postpartum women affected by opioid use and mental-health disorders.

Youth treatment funding carries facility safeguard

For July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, Communicare gets $5.235 million from opioid settlements. It funds a psychiatric facility purchase and residential and crisis care for adolescents with substance-use needs. If the program stops for any reason, the property must return to the state. Hope Village gets $151,000 for residential treatment for youth in foster care. Those youth must have both a behavioral-health diagnosis and a substance-use-disorder diagnosis.

College campuses get overdose prevention funding

HarborPath gets $1.1 million in opioid-settlement funds from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The grant supports efforts to prevent fatal opioid overdoses on Mississippi college campuses. It also funds greater awareness of and access to naloxone, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses.

More community and remote addiction care

Opioid-settlement grants run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. QuickMD gets $500,000 for telehealth treatment using medication, focused on Mississippi residents with opioid-use disorder facing limited options or access barriers. Access Family Health gets $250,000 for treatment, counseling, and peer support; Family Health Center gets $50,000 for care transitions, medication adherence, and pharmacy coordination. Amite County Medical Services gets $200,000 for mental-health services, early risk identification, and coordinated care in Amite and Pike Counties. End it for Good gets $200,000 for family and community skills training and regular peer-support meetings.

More opioid prevention help for youth

These opioid-settlement grants run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. South Mississippi Mental Health Center gets $700,000 for school-based therapy, healthy coping skills, resilience, and substance-abuse education. Thrive Way gets $500,000 for Peer Helpers PLUS, and Hope Squad gets $500,000 for tools helping students identify and support peers in need. Magee Foundation gets $800,000 for a statewide educational film and materials for the Dear William Project. The grants support prevention services, not direct payments to students or parents.

Recovery funding includes property return rule

These opioid-settlement grants run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Gulf Coast Center for NonViolence gets $800,000 to expand residential treatment, counseling, and peer support. Freedom Center gets $250,000 for a facility supporting its 15-week residential treatment program; the property returns to the state if the program ends for any reason. Home of Grace gets $1.2 million for scholarships allowing eligible participants to continue treatment; no individual scholarship amount is set. Mississippi Center for Police and Sheriffs gets $2 million for a 16-bed recovery facility and statewide drug-deactivation pouch outreach through law enforcement and United Way 211.

Recovery housing expands with ownership safeguard

These opioid-settlement grants run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The Chase Project gets $360,000 to expand Chase House of Restoration sober-living and recovery housing. If that program stops for any reason, the property must return to the state. Community Housing Development Association and River City Rescue get $100,000 for life-skills support for adult men finishing residential addiction treatment. The Exodus Project gets $49,867 for residential treatment, education, and recovery support for people involved in the justice system.

Addiction counseling for veterans and responders

Mission Vigilant gets $50,000 in opioid-settlement funds from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The grant supports private, confidential, certified counseling for Mississippi veterans, first responders, and their family members struggling with opioid addiction. The law does not set an individual benefit amount.

Attorney General receives annual operating funds

The law provides $78.22224 million for the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. This includes $33.974056 million from the General Fund and $44.248184 million from special funds. The money funds office operations and programs, not direct payments to every household. Within the General Fund allocation, $100,000 supports administration of the Telephone Solicitation Act.

Children’s centers receive forensic interview funding

Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi receive $3.05 million for forensic interviews from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The Attorney General’s Office may keep up to $50,000 of that amount for program administration. This allocation supports interview services rather than direct payments to families.

Counties fund crisis care and detention

Opioid-settlement funding runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Harrison County gets $1.9 million for a centralized Diversion Center offering an alternative to jail or emergency rooms. It provides immediate screening, assessment, psychiatric care, and service planning with attention to trauma. Lafayette County gets $3.5 million in non-abatement funds for construction at jail facilities. That construction supports short-term detention of people with substance-use impairment or co-occurring medical or psychiatric conditions.

Funding supports victims and crime enforcement

For July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, $5.727583 million supports programs traditionally funded by court assessments. Allocations include Crime Victims Compensation, $1.901332 million; its administration, $347,547; State Prosecutor Education, $662,582; and the Cyber Crime Unit, $944,722. Children’s Advocacy Centers get $554,489; vulnerable-person training, investigation, and prosecution get $565,165; and domestic violence training gets $376,580. Child support prosecution gets $128,475; law enforcement and firefighter disability benefits get $133,666; motorcycle officer training gets $100,000; and district attorney operations get $13,025. The office must report these expenditures to legislative appropriations committee chairs by the 15th day of the month after each calendar quarter. The law also provides $1 million for the Prosecutors Training Division and $680,000 through the Department of Health for alcohol and tobacco enforcement.

State legal work gets funding targets

The law funds litigation defending the constitutionality of Mississippi statutes; the supplied provision states no amount. For FY2027, it sets performance targets for criminal and civil cases, legal training, legal opinions, Medicaid fraud enforcement, consumer complaints, victim claims, and the no-call program. Targets include supportive-service costs at 5.50% of the budget and a continuing legal education rating of 95.00. Case targets include at least 95% affirmation of criminal convictions, 100% denial of federal habeas relief, and 96% positive civil-case results. The victim compensation target is processing 75% of claims within 12 weeks, not a guaranteed deadline for every claim. The Attorney General must submit quarterly target-compliance reports with the FY2028 budget submission.

Funding supports telephone solicitation consumer protections

The Attorney General’s Office gets $100,000 from the General Fund to administer the Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act. Funding runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The money supports administration of consumer protections, not direct household payments.

Fraud collections can fund Medicaid enforcement

Medicaid Fraud Control Unit penalties and other collections can provide the state match for available federal support for the unit. The Attorney General can also use this money for other lawful purposes. The office must track the money separately by its source and use. The law does not change Medicaid eligibility or set a collection amount.

New data tools support opioid response

These opioid-settlement grants run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Canopy Children’s Solution gets $1.835 million for a data system supporting coordination across child and family programs, including prevention and treatment. Stercus Bioanalytics gets $300,000 for a wastewater pilot measuring opioid consumption at the population level. The pilot allocates $100,000 to each of the three areas described in Mississippi Code Section 77-1-1. These grants fund information systems, not direct household payments.

Attorney General staff face payroll limits

For July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, payroll spending is capped at $31.069278 million. This includes $30.836382 million for salaries, wages, and benefits, plus $232,896 for vacancies. The payroll cap includes $26.225588 million in General Funds and $4.84369 million in special funds. The office has authority for 91 permanent and 209 time-limited positions. Vacancy money is reserved for approved vacancies at the end of FY2026 and must increase filled positions, not fund raises or promotions. Vacancy funding may be prorated for positions filled after March 1, 2026. Personal-services money cannot move to another spending category; transfers and budget increases require Department of Finance and Administration approval. The State Personnel Board cannot increase spending without new funds, and General Funds cannot replace withdrawn federal or special funds. Salary actions may be stopped if they exceed the FY2027 cap or increase FY2028 funding needs, except for essential new hires. The office must keep FY2026-format accounting and personnel records and make its FY2028 budget request comparable to FY2027.

Opioid grant recipients face certification rules

Recipients of opioid settlement funds under Sections 18 and 19 must provide a written certification under oath. They must certify they have no prohibited contracts tying compensation to the success or failure of legislation or executive action. Recipients cannot receive or use these funds if they fail to certify or are found to violate the certification.

Attorney General spending and hiring face limits

The law protects public money by limiting Attorney General spending to work needed for legally authorized duties. It bars paying anyone related by blood or marriage within the third degree to the official hiring or selecting them. The marriage-based restriction does not apply if the person who created the family link has died. Anyone approving, making, or receiving a banned payment is jointly responsible for repaying three times its amount.

Opioid funding includes administration and safeguards

For July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, the law allocates $34.224617 million from the Opioid Settlement Fund. This includes $30.324617 million for treatment, prevention, recovery, and related grants, plus $3.9 million in non-abatement funding. The non-abatement funding includes $400,000 for Attorney General administrative fees; the remaining $3.5 million funds Lafayette County jail construction. Recipients of Section 18 and Section 19 funds must certify they have no compensation contracts tied to legislative or executive-action outcomes. Funds are withheld when certification is missing or violations are found.

Recovery housing grants carry property safeguards

Funding runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The Chase Project gets $360,000 to buy treatment properties, improve housing and tiny homes for mothers with children, and expand properties. Foundation on the Rock gets $500,000 to build a tiny-home community for people with substance-use disorder. Property must return to the state if either program ends for any reason. Both recipients must certify in writing under oath that they have no prohibited contracts tying pay to legislative or executive outcomes.

School life-skills grant includes certification requirement

Finally First gets $250,000 in opioid settlement funds for life-skills training in 15 public schools across four counties. The grant also supports training community leaders for outreach. Funding runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. The recipient must certify in writing under oath that it has no prohibited contracts tying pay to legislative or executive outcomes.

Attorney General purchases face spending safeguards

Mississippi Industries for the Blind gets purchasing preference when competing bids match in price, quality, and service. It also gets a similar preference for purchases without competitive bids. Payments to relatives of the hiring official, within the third degree by blood or marriage, are prohibited. Violators must repay three times the amount paid, and the approving official shares liability. The office must assess the feasibility and cost of registering and disclosing litigation funding from adversarial foreign countries as a funding condition. Funds are limited to the Attorney General’s constitutional or statutory duties or implementing laws, with payment through State Treasurer warrants and requisitions.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Sam C. Mims, V
Republican • House

Cosponsors

Manly Barton
Republican • House
Angela Cockerham
Independent • House
John G. Faulkner
Democratic • House
Joey Hood
Republican • House
Jay McKnight
Republican • House
John Read
Republican • House
Randy Rushing
Republican • House
Percy W. Watson
Democratic • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 447 • No: 3

House vote • 4/15/2026

Veto Overridden

Yes: 110 • No: 0 • Other: 5

House vote • 3/29/2026

Conference Report Adopted

Yes: 114 • No: 3 • Other: 1

Senate vote • 3/29/2026