MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
1997 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Welfare; Appropriations
By: Representative Green (72nd)
House Bill 493
AN ACT TO CREATE THE FAMILY SHELTER AND RELIEF FUND IN THE STATE TREASURY, WHICH SHALL BE ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO PROVIDE GRANTS TO CHURCHES AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO PROVIDE LODGING, MEALS, CLOTHING, TRANSPORTATION, COUNSELING, EMPLOYMENT REFERRAL AND MEDICAL CARE FOR TEMPORARILY DISPLACED OR HOMELESS PERSONS, AND/OR TO SERVE AS A TEMPORARY SAFE HAVEN FOR CHILDREN; TO PROVIDE FOR THE TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM THE STATE GENERAL FUND TO THE FAMILY SHELTER AND RELIEF FUND DURING EACH FISCAL YEAR; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Family Shelter and Relief Fund, which shall be administered by the Department of Human Services. Moneys in the fund shall be disbursed by the department to churches and nonprofit organizations as grants, which shall be used by the churches and nonprofit organizations to provide lodging, meals, clothing, transportation, counseling, employment referral and medical care for temporarily displaced or homeless persons, and/or to serve as a temporary safe haven for children. Churches and nonprofit organizations shall apply to the department for the grants, and must explain how the grants would be used. The department shall prescribe the form for a grant application and will determine the amount of any grant made to any individual church or nonprofit organization. The amount of a grant to any individual church or nonprofit corporation during any one (1) state fiscal year shall not exceed Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000.00).
(2) The State Fiscal Officer shall transfer the sum of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) from the State General Fund to the Family Shelter and Relief Fund during fiscal year 1998 in four (4) equal quarterly payments, with the first payment to be made on July 1, 1997. During each subsequent fiscal year, the State Fiscal Officer shall transfer the sum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00) from the State General Fund to the Family Shelter and Relief Fund in one (1) payment on July 1 of the fiscal year.
(3) Moneys in the Family Shelter and Relief Fund may be expended only upon appropriation of the Legislature. Any unexpended amounts remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned on amounts in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.