House Bill 943

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 93-19-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE PERSONS 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER TO ENTER LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACTS FOR THE LEASE OF REAL PROPERTY; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 43-27-103, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES AUTHORITY FOR A SYSTEM OF SERVICES BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, FOR PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 15-1-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR DISABILITY OF INFANCY, FOR THE PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; TO AMEND SECTION 1-3-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES THE DEFINITION OF A "MINOR"; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 93-19-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

93-19-13. (1) All persons eighteen (18) years of age or older, if not otherwise disqualified, or prohibited by law, shall have the capacity to enter into binding contractual relationships affecting personal property. In addition, all persons eighteen (18) years of age or older shall have the capacity to enter into binding contractual relationships for the purpose of investing in mutual funds, stocks, bonds and any other publicly traded equities. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect any contracts entered into prior to July 1, 1976.

(2) Any person eighteen (18) years of age or older including those who are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Services or Child Protection Services, if not otherwise disqualified, or prohibited by law, shall have the capacity to enter into binding agreements to lease real property to be occupied by the person as the actual place of residence.

(3) In any legal action founded on a contract entered into by a person eighteen (18) years of age or older, the said person may sue in his own name as an adult and be sued in his own name as an adult and be served with process as an adult.

SECTION 2. Section 43-27-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

43-27-103. (1) Sections 43-27-101 and 43-27-103 shall enable the development by the Department of Human Services of a system of services for children or youth in the custody of or under the supervision of the Department of Human Services, if funds are appropriated to the department for that purpose. The system of services may consist of emergency response services, an early intervention and treatment unit, respite care, crisis nurseries, specialized outpatient or inpatient treatment services, special needs foster care, therapeutic foster care, emergency foster homes, and Medicaid targeted case management for abused and neglected children and youth as well as children adjudicated delinquent or in need of supervision. Any of these services that are provided shall be arranged by and coordinated through the Department of Human Services, and the department may contract with public or private agencies or entities to provide any of the services or may provide any of the services itself. All of the services shall be provided in facilities that meet the standards set by the Department of Human Services for the particular type of facility involved. None of the services provided shall duplicate existing services except where there is a documented need for expansion of the services.

(2) A description of the services that may be provided under Sections 43-27-101 and 43-27-103 are as follows:

(a) "Emergency response services" means services to respond to children or youth in severe crisis and include:

(i) Emergency single point phone lines;

(ii) Crisis care coordinators staffing shifts that enable twenty-four-hour per day response as "front line" professionals when crisis calls are received, assist with decision-making, family support, initiate plan of action and remain "on call" for the first seventy-two (72) hours for other service professionals to get in place and insure development of a plan of care;

(iii) Acute care/emergency medical response through contracted services with up to five (5) regional hospitals providing emergency room services and hospitalization for up to seventy-two (72) hours with a maximum of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per day;

(iv) Case managers;

(v) Respite services; and

(vi) Assessment services contracted with social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and other health professionals.

(b) "Early intervention and treatment unit" means a unique, nonhospital crisis service in a residential context that is able to provide the level of support and intervention needed to resolve the crisis and as an alternative to hospitalization. This unit shall provide specialized assessment, including a variety of treatment options and services to best intervene in a child or youth's crisis, and provide an appropriate plan for further services upon returning to the home and community. Staff-to-child or youth ratio shall be high, with multidisciplinary, specialized services for up to six (6) children or youths at one (1) time, and with the maximum assessment and treatment planning and services being ninety (90) days for most children or youths.

(c) "Respite care" means planned temporary care for a period of time ranging from a few hours within a twenty-four-hour period to an overnight or weekend stay to a maximum of ten (10) days. Care may be provided in-home or out-of-home with trained respite parents or counselors and is designed to provide a planned break for the parents from the caretaking role with the child.

(d) "Crisis nurseries" means a program providing therapeutic nursery treatment services to preschool aged children who as preschoolers demonstrate significant behavioral or emotional disorders. These services shall be to therapeutically address developmental and emotional behavioral difficulties through direct intervention with the child in a nursery school environment and to intervene with parents to provide education, support and therapeutic services.

(e) "Specialized outpatient or inpatient treatment services," such as sex offender treatment, means specialized treatment for perpetrators of sexual offenses with children.

(f) "Special needs foster care" means foster care for those children with a variety of handicapping conditions or disabilities, including serious emotional disturbance.

(g) "Therapeutic foster care" means residential mental health services provided to children and adolescents in a family setting, utilizing specially trained foster parents. Therapeutic foster care essentially involves the following features:

(i) Placement with foster parents who have been carefully selected by knowledgeable, well-trained mental health and social service professionals to work with children with an emotional disturbance;

(ii) Provision of special training to the foster parents to assist them in working with children with an emotional disturbance;

(iii) Low staff-to-child ratio, allowing the therapeutic staff to work very closely with each child, the foster parents and the biological parents, if available;

(iv) Creation of a support system among these specially trained foster parents; and

(v) Payment of a special foster care payment to the foster parents.

(h) "Emergency foster homes" means those homes used on a short-term basis for (i) children who are temporarily removed from the home in response to a crisis situation, or (ii) youth who exhibit special behavioral or emotional problems for whom removal from the existing home situation is necessary. In some cases they may provide an emergency placement for infants and toddlers for whom no regular foster home is available, rather than placement into an emergency shelter where older and larger groups of children are placed. Foster parents are trained to deal with the special needs of children placed in these emergency homes.

(i) "Medicaid targeted case management" means activities that are related to assuring the completion of proper client evaluations; arranging and supporting treatment plans, monitoring services, coordinating service delivery and other related actions.

SECTION 3. Section 15-1-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

15-1-59. If any person entitled to bring any of the personal actions mentioned shall, at the time at which the cause of action accrued, be under the disability of infancy or unsoundness of mind, he may bring the actions within the times in this chapter respectively limited, after his disability shall be removed as provided by law. However, the saving in favor of persons under disability of unsoundness of mind shall never extend longer than twenty-one (21) years.

SECTION 4. Section 1-3-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

1-3-27. The term "minor," when used in any statute, shall include any person, male or female, under twenty-one (21) years of age.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.