SB2221_H_Cmte_Amend

SECTION 1. Sections 1 through 4 of this act shall be known and may be cited as the "Jimmy Kaigler Alzheimer's Support Act." James Street "Jimmy" Kaigler was born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and was a graduate of the University of Mississippi. Kaigler served as a Captain in the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1972. Following his tour in Vietnam, Captain Kaigler was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. Kaigler later worked as President and CEO of Memorial Hospital in Gulfport. Sections 1 through 4 of this act shall serve as testament to Captain Kaigler's life as well as a tribute to the loving care provided by his wife and family.

SECTION 2. (1) The Legislature finds that:

(a) Families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia at home are often burdened with excessive financial or personal costs of providing continuous care;

(b) Medicare does not pay for long-term care or provide support to family caregivers;

(c) Long-term care insurance is costly and may not be affordable to low and middle income families and may not cover essential services for the length of time needed for an Alzheimer's patient; and

(d) Providing respite care services to those with Alzheimer's may delay or supplant the need for transfer to a long-term skilled nursing facility, allowing for the individual with Alzheimer's to remain in his or her home environment.

SECTION 3. As used in Sections 1 through 4 of this act, the following terms shall be defined as provided in this section:

(a) "Alzheimer's disease or related dementia" means the diseases and conditions characterized by a decline in memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking skills that affect a person's ability to perform everyday activities.

(b) "Mississippi Dementia Care Program" means the Alzheimer's or related dementia pilot program created in this act.

(c) "Informal caregiver" means any spouse, adult child, relative or friend who provides unpaid assistance to an individual living in the community who suffers from Alzheimer's or other related dementia.

(d) "Respite care" means temporary, substitute support or living arrangements to provide a brief period of relief or rest for informal caregivers. Respite care may include in-home care by appropriately trained individuals, or care in an adult day care or assisted living or nursing home setting, for an intermittent, occasional or emergency basis.

SECTION 4. (1) Subject to the appropriation of federal funds for that purpose, there is established within the Department of Human Services a pilot program known as the "Mississippi Dementia Care Program" for the purpose of providing respite care services to informal caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia. The pilot program shall use existing respite care services infrastructure and selected fiscal agent to carry out the operations of the program.

(2) The Mississippi Dementia Care Program shall:

(a) Be operated for a period of three (3) consecutive years beginning on July 1, 2022, and continuing through July 1, 2025;

(b) Begin enrolling participating individuals immediately upon beginning of the program; and

(c) Actively serve not more than sixty (60) enrollees for the first year of operation, and maintain this number of enrollees for the second and third year of operation.

(3) To receive assistance from the Mississippi Dementia Care program, the family unit must be assessed according to the guidelines developed by the department to determine the need for respite care services. This assessment must determine, at a minimum, that:

(a) The family unit is unable to pay for respite care without jeopardizing other basic needs, including, but not limited to, food, shelter and medications; and

(b) The homebound person with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia for whom the family unit is caring is sixty (60) years of age or older, requires assistance to remain in the home, and, without this assistance, would need to move to an assisted living facility or a nursing facility.

(4) The Department of Human Services shall promulgate rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of Sections 1 through 4 of this act.

(5) The executive director of the department shall submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2023, and on or before January 1st of each year thereafter until the end of the pilot program period. The report shall include, but is not limited to, the following information:

(a) Total spent on program funding;

(b) The amount of administrative costs to operate the program;

(d) The income ranges of the individuals and informal caregivers participating in this program; and

(e) The efficacy of the assistance program.

(6) This section does not create an entitlement to respite care services through the provisions of this program, and the services provided and the number of individuals served are subject to appropriations of federal funds for that purpose.

SECTION 5. (1) As used in this section, the term "regional food banks" means the three (3) Feeding America partner food banks that serve Mississippi, including Feeding the Gulf Coast, Mid-South Food Bank, and Mississippi Food Network, which are nonprofit organizations that solicit, warehouse and redistribute eligible food to agencies in Mississippi that feed families and individuals who qualify based on federal guidelines.

(2) Subject to the appropriation of federal funds for that purposes, the Department of Human Services shall establish a grant program for regional food banks to provide annual grant funding to the regional food banks for the purchase, transportation, storage and distribution of food in Mississippi. Grants shall be made from federal funds available to the department for such purpose. Grants made pursuant to the program shall be used only for the purchase of food or agricultural commodities for repackaging or processing, or both, of food for distribution to emergency food providers serving Mississippi and program participants residing in Mississippi.

(3) The department shall administer the program and shall use not more than one percent (1%) of the funds made available for the program for expenses of administering the program.

(4) All food purchases made through the use of program funds shall be made in accordance with the following standards:

(a) Procurement from Mississippi-based food sources shall be given preference when available and at a reasonable cost;

(b) Food shall be purchased at wholesale prices or competitive bid prices or better; and

(c) Funds for food and food provided through this program shall be used to supplement and not replace funds for food or food provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's federal commodities program.

(5) The department shall allocate money to regional food banks based on population, food insecurity rates, and county service areas. The annual percentage formula for each nonprofit food bank shall be calculated on a pro rata basis by dividing the total number of food insecure persons in the food bank's service area by the total number of food insecure persons in the state. The data for this formula shall be derived from the latest available data from Feeding America.

(6) Not more than seven percent (7%) of the grant funds made available through the program to a regional food bank shall be used by any regional food bank for the payment of administrative and incidental costs.

(7) No regional food bank shall charge any person who is eligible under the program for food or encourage any eligible person to contribute money in order to receive food under the program.

SECTION 6. From and after March 1, 2021, any community foundation holding funds appropriated by Section 2, Chapter 104, Laws of 2020, as amended by Section 1, Chapter 118, Laws of 2020, may (a) make grants in amounts to be determined by the foundations to any food pantry, regardless of whether the funds were designated for food pantries or nonprofit entities; or (b) transfer funds to another community foundation for the purpose described in paragraph (a). No community foundation or food pantry shall be subject to the provisions of Section 31-7-1 et seq., unless it is an agency of the State of Mississippi or its governing authority, since Section 31-7-1 et seq. applies only to state agencies and to governing authorities.

SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021, except for Section 6, which shall take effect and be in force from and after the passage of this act.