2016 Regular Session
To: Municipalities; County Affairs
By: Senator(s) McDaniel
AN ACT TO CREATE THE REFUGEE ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY ACT; TO ENACT DEFINITIONS; TO ENACT REQUIREMENTS FOR RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES AND DATA GENERATION CONCERNING THE SUCCESS OF RESETTLEMENT EFFORTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the United states, as enacted in the Immigration and Nationality Act, Title IV, Chapter 2, Section 412, 8 USC Section 1522, 45 CFR 400.5(h), that:
(a) Recommendations of the state regarding placement of refugees should be taken into account;
(b) Refugees should not be placed or resettled in an area highly affected by the presence of refugees or comparable populations;
(c) That close cooperation and advance consultation should exist between the state, local governments, and local voluntary refugee resettlement agencies to plan and coordinate in advance the placement of refugees; and
WHEREAS, Mississippi commits publicly funded resources to support refugee resettlement in this state; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature deems it expedient to codify in state law certain federal requirements which relate to agencies involved in resettling refugees in this state, requiring quarterly meetings with the State Refugee Coordinator and representatives of the respective local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees' arrival and to report the information to the local governments and the Legislature; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Refugee Absorptive Capacity Act."
SECTION 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Absorptive capacity" is a determination made by the Governor or by a local government evaluating:
(i) The capacity of the social service agencies, child welfare agencies, child care facilities, educational facilities, healthcare facilities, translation and interpreter services, and law enforcement agencies of the state or in the jurisdiction of the local government to meet the existing needs of the community's current residents considering budgetary and other restraints;
(ii) The capacity to provide medical care to refugees who at the time of resettlement in the state or in the jurisdiction of the local government are determined to have medical conditions requiring, or medical histories indicating a need for, treatment or observation, or affecting the public health, both with or without expenditures by this state, including expenditures under this state's approved Medicaid state plan in accordance with Section 1902(a)(10)(C) of the Social Security Act, Children's Health Insurance Program, or other public assistance programs;
(iii) The capacity to provide affordable housing, low-cost housing, or both, considering existing waiting lists for housing in the state or in the jurisdiction of the local government;
(iv) The capacity of the local school district in the jurisdiction of the local government to meet the needs of the existing or anticipated refugee population, including education of unaccompanied refugee minors and providing English language training;
(v) The capacity of the economy of the state or in the jurisdiction of the local government to absorb new workers, including the likelihood of refugees placed in the jurisdiction of the local government becoming employed, self-sufficient, and free from long-term dependence on public assistance, without causing competition with local residents for job opportunities, displacing existing local workers, or adversely affecting the wages or working conditions of the local workforce;
(vi) The capacity of state and local law enforcement in the jurisdiction of the local government to assure that law and order can be maintained, and ensure that the refugee population and the general public can be protected from crime, including, child abuse, domestic abuse, and sex trafficking, as well as threats to national security; and
(vii) The capacity of the state and local government to provide services considering whether the jurisdiction of the local government has been highly affected by the presence of refugees or comparable populations, including the proportion of refugees and comparable entrants in the population in the state or in the jurisdiction of the local government, the amount of secondary migration of refugees to the state or to the jurisdiction of the local government, and the proportion of refugees in the state or in the jurisdiction of the local government receiving cash or medical assistance through public assistance.
(b) "Local government" means the municipal governing body or board of supervisors or both that regulates any host community being considered for refugee resettlement activity.
(c) "Local educational agency" means:
(i) A public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within the state for either administrative control of or direction of, or to perform service functions for, public elementary or secondary schools; or
(ii) Any other public institution or agency that has administrative control and direction of a public elementary or secondary school.
(d) "Refugee resettlement organization" means any organization that receives federal funding for refugee resettlement, including any replacement designee.
(e) "State office for refugees" means the state office that administers the refugee program for this state, or the entity or agency to whom the state has delegated that function and which has been designated and recognized by the federal government to administer the program.
(f) "State refugee coordinator" means the official designated by the state office for refugees.
SECTION 3. The state office for refugees and any refugee resettlement organization shall:
(a) Meet at least quarterly with representatives of local governments to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in advance of the refugees' arrival;
(b) Ensure that representatives of local resettlement agencies, local community service agencies, and other publicly funded or tax-exempt agencies that serve refugees in this state shall meet at least quarterly with representatives of local governments, including representatives of law enforcement and local educational agencies, to plan and coordinate the appropriate placement of refugees in the host community in advance of the refugees' arrival;
(c) Execute a letter of agreement with each agency providing refugee resettlement services in this state. The letter of agreement must require the parties to mutually consult and prepare a plan for the initial placement of refugees in a host community and set forth the continuing process of consultation between the parties. The provisions of the letter agreement shall be consistent with federal law regulating the resettlement of refugees;
(d) At least quarterly transmit copies of the letters of agreement and any initial refugee placement plans prepared thereunder to the Speaker of the House, Lieutenant Governor, the mayor or president of the board of supervisors of the local government hosting the host refugee community, the Commissioner of Public Safety, the Attorney General of Mississippi, the heads of all local law enforcement agencies in the state, and to the heads of all local educational agencies in the state; and
(e) By January 31st of each year, transmit to the Speaker of the House, Lieutenant Governor, the mayor or president of the board of supervisors of the local government hosting the host refugee community, the Commissioner of Public Safety, the Attorney General of Mississippi, the heads of all local law enforcement agencies in the state, and to the heads of all local educational agencies in the state, the following data for the prior fiscal or calendar year:
(i) Copies of statistical and programmatic information provided to the federal government, including any Reception and Placement Program Proposal or resettlement abstract;
(ii) Copies of the written policies of the Refugee Cash Assistance program, including agency policies regarding eligibility standards, the duration and amount of cash assistance payments, the requirements for participation in services, the penalties for noncooperation, and client rights and responsibilities to ensure that refugees understand what they are eligible for, what is expected of them, and what protections are available to them;
(iii) Copies of any written public or private Refugee Cash Assistance program operating at any time in the calendar year;
(iv) A report documenting the number of refugees sanctioned for failure to comply with the requirements of the Refugee Cash Assistance program, and the number of determinations concerning employability or failure or refusal to carry out job search requirements or to accept an appropriate offer of employability services or employment, that result in denial or termination of assistance;
(v) A certification that women have the same opportunities as men to participate in all services provided, including job placement services;
(vi) Any reports, either submitted or received, of crime committed by a refugee who has been resettled in the state, or crime committed against a refugee who has been resettled in the state, including incidents of child abuse, female genital mutilation, domestic abuse, sex or human trafficking, or terrorism, whether prosecuted or not; and
(vii) A report delineating:
1. The total number of refugees resettled;
2. The total number of refugees resettled who are under the age of eighteen (18);
3. The total number of refugees resettled who are between the ages of eighteen (18) and forty (40);
4. The total number of refugees resettled who are between the ages of forty (40) and sixty-five (65);
5. The total number of refugees over the age of sixty-five (65);
6. The total number of refugees who are male and female, respectively;
7. The public assistance benefit programs that the refugees have applied for or enrolled into;
8. The total number of refugee minors enrolled in a public school;
9. The total of refugee minors accessing English language learner services;
10. The education levels of the refugees resettled, by gender;
11. The locations by zip code of initial resettlement for refugees resettled that year;
12. The locations by zip code of refugees who have migrated from the zip code at which they were initially resettled;
13. The numbers of refugees resettled with and without family already residing in the United States;
14. The number of refugees for which the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, or the Secretary of Homeland Security exercised discretionary authority granted by Section 212(d)(3)(B)(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 79 Fed. Reg. 6913, not to apply the material support inadmissibility provisions of Section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to admit the refugee into the United States.
SECTION 4. (1) The state office for refugees or the Governor shall accept an application from a local government for a moratorium on new refugee resettlement activities in a host community that lacks sufficient absorptive capacity.
(2) A host community lacks sufficient absorptive capacity where the local government, after consultation with the state refugee coordinator, holds a public hearing and issues findings based on the factors in Section 2(1) of this act that further resettlement of refugees in the host community would result in an adverse impact to existing residents.
(3) Upon notice of a determination made pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, the state office for refugees or the Governor shall thereafter suspend additional resettlement of refugees in that community, until the state refugee coordinator and the local government have jointly determined that sufficient absorptive capacity for refugee resettlement exists to implement the initial refugee placement plan prepared for the host refugee community.
(4) The period of validity of a moratorium described in subsection (3) of this section or any extension thereof, shall not exceed one (1) year.
SECTION 5. The Governor may issue findings based on the factors in Section 2(1) of this act that further resettlement of refugees in the state would result in an adverse impact to existing residents of the state, and issue an executive order declaring that the state, through any entity or designee, will not, until revocation of the executive order, participate in the resettlement of refugees.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.