MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) McMahan
AN ACT TO ENACT THE REAL YOU ACT OF 2022; TO DEFINE TERMS; TO PROHIBIT PHYSICALLY INCARCERATED OFFENDERS FROM REQUESTING A NAME CHANGE; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "The Real You Act of 2022."
SECTION 2. For purposes of this act, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Change of name petition" means a petition to change the legal name of an individual.
(b) "Offender" means any physically incarcerated person convicted of a crime or offense under the laws and ordinances of the state and its political subdivisions or the laws and regulations of the federal government.
SECTION 3. (1) (a) No offender shall have standing to file a change of name petition with the chancery court;
(b) No chancellor shall grant a change of name petition for an offender; and
(c) No chancery clerk shall file a change of name petition for an offender.
(2) A chancellor may change the name of an offender if:
(a) A district attorney files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender;
(b) A sheriff of a county in which a person is incarcerated files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender;
(c) The commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, or his or her designee, files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender; or
(d) A Mississippi Department of Corrections Chaplain files a change of name petition on behalf of an offender.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.