SB 2597 Mississippi Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Mississippi K-12 and Postsecondary Mental Health Act of 2025; enact, and establish Executive Committee of ICCCY.

SB 2597 established an Executive Committee under Mississippi's Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth (ICCCY) to coordinate mental health resources for K-12 and postsecondary students. The committee, composed of education and health officials, must develop mental health training for school staff, create age-appropriate mental health materials for students and parents, and build an online resource guide for schools to post on their websites starting in 2025. It also requires an annual report by October 1 on state-funded mental health programs for children and adolescents, to be shared with key legislative committees. The bill died in committee on March 4, 2025, and did not become law. It directly affected Mississippi public schools, community colleges, and universities by mandating coordinated mental health infrastructure.

Issues: ✓ Education ✓ Healthcare

Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 7, 2025 Last action Mar 4, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

As Introduced → Current version · 7 edits

MODERATE

This bill establishes an Executive Committee for the Interagency Coordinating Council for Children and Youth (ICCCY) to coordinate mental health services for children and adolescents in Mississippi. The version passed by the Senate significantly expanded the committee's membership to include additional state agencies and stakeholder representatives, added specific responsibilities for mental health resource development and reporting, and brought forward existing sections of the Mississippi Code for potential amendment to strengthen the statewide System of Care framework.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from establishing a basic Executive Committee to creating a more comprehensive governance structure with broader membership, specific operational responsibilities, and enhanced coordination mechanisms for mental health services across public schools, universities, community colleges, and state agencies.

REQUIREMENT

Added specific responsibilities for the Executive Committee including evaluating school personnel, identifying personnel for mental health training, developing age-appropriate mental health materials, creating screening guidance, developing partnership guidelines with mental health centers, compiling annual reports, and creating an internet-based mental health resource guide for public schools.

Added requirement for public school districts to include a visible mental health resource navigation link on their homepages starting in the 2025-2026 school year.

Established statewide local Multidisciplinary Assessment and Planning (MAP) teams and Adolescent (A) teams to serve as single points of entry for children needing mental health services.

SCOPE

Expanded ICCCY membership from 5 members to 18 members including representatives from additional state agencies, family advocates, youth representatives, and community stakeholders.

DEFINITION

Added creation of the Interagency System of Care Council (ISCC) as a state management team to collect data and analyze funding strategies for the Mississippi Statewide System of Care.

FISCAL

Added provisions for creating a pool of state funds contributed by participating agencies and the Mississippi Tobacco Health Care Expenditure Fund to support community-based mental health services.

TIMELINE

Set specific deadlines for report compilation (October 1, 2025) and mental health resource guide development (August 1, 2025).

Floor votes · Senate Feb 6, 2025

How they voted

50–0

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 51

Feb 6, 2025

D Democratic16

16 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican35

34 Yea 1

97% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 10, 2025

Committee

Referred To Education

lower

Feb 7, 2025

Introduced

Transmitted To House

upper

Feb 6, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed

upper

Jan 31, 2025

Upper · Passed

Title Suff Do Pass

upper

Jan 20, 2025

Committee

Referred To Education

upper

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor