Rep. Daryl Porter

Maddy summaryHR 17 is a ceremonial resolution (not a policy bill) commending the life, service, and legacy of Mattie Jane Gardner Rials, a longtime children's librarian in McComb, Mississippi, following her passing in January 2025. It honors her 45-year career with the Pike-Walthall-Amite Library System, her creation of community programs for children and individuals with disabilities, and her founding of the Miss Mattie Foundation. The resolution expresses sympathy to her family, friends, and the Pike, Amite, and Walthall County community, and directs copies to her family, the library system, and the Capitol Press Corps. It contains no new policy, funding, or legal requirements.

Maddy summaryHB 1373 requires the Mississippi Department of Corrections (DOC) to pay the same per-day rate to all counties for housing state offenders in county facilities, eliminating varying payment rates between counties. The rate must not exceed $25 per day per offender, as specified in current law. This policy directly affects counties that house state inmates due to capacity limits in state correctional facilities and standardizes DOC payments to ensure uniform compensation.

Maddy summaryHB 575 requires Mississippi school districts with 25% or more students receiving free lunch in the prior year to apply to the USDA for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). This would make all meals free for every student at those schools or districts, regardless of family income, without individual income checks. The bill mandates submitting student eligibility data by April 1 and a full application by June 30 each year. It directly affects qualifying school districts and aims to simplify access to free meals under federal nutrition programs.

Maddy summaryHB 852 would have increased the maximum monetary limit for cases heard in Mississippi justice courts from its current amount to $5,000. This change would directly affect individuals and small businesses filing civil claims for debts, damages, or personal property valued under $5,000, allowing them to resolve these matters in justice court instead of higher courts. The bill specifically amended Mississippi Code Section 9-11-9 to set this new $5,000 jurisdictional cap. The proposed change was intended to streamline small claims processing but died in committee on February 4, 2025, and did not become law.

Maddy summaryHB 83 would have increased the maximum amount justice courts in Mississippi can handle for small claims cases from the current limit to $15,000. This change would directly affect individuals and businesses filing lawsuits seeking recovery of debts, damages, or personal property valued under $15,000. The bill amended Mississippi Code Section 9-11-9 to raise this jurisdictional cap, allowing justice courts to resolve more civil disputes without escalating to higher courts. However, the bill died in committee on February 4, 2025, and did not become law.

Maddy summaryHB 579 would add June 19 (Juneteenth) to Mississippi's official list of legal holidays under state law, making it a day when state offices and many public institutions close. This change directly affects state employees, public schools, and government operations, as they would observe June 19 as a paid holiday. The bill amends Mississippi Code Section 3-3-7 to explicitly include "the nineteenth day of June (Juneteenth)" in the list of recognized holidays. It does not change existing holiday rules for private businesses or alter other holiday designations in the code.

Maddy summaryHB 851, the "Troy Floyd Act," creates a grant program to help Mississippi municipalities with populations under 3,000 purchase essential emergency equipment for their police departments, such as bulletproof vests, radios, and first aid kits. The bill establishes a dedicated state fund to provide grants of up to $50,000 per municipality, requiring applicants to submit detailed cost and equipment plans. Funds would be disbursed by the Mississippi Development Authority after legislative appropriation, with unspent balances rolling over annually. The bill died in committee on February 4, 2025, and is not currently active.

Maddy summaryHB 86 requires all Mississippi emergency communications districts and county boards overseeing them to implement text-to-911 services by January 1, 2027. This mandates that these entities establish systems allowing residents to send text messages to emergency call takers during crises, directly affecting local emergency response infrastructure. The bill defines "text-to-911" as the capability to send emergency text messages to 911 call centers via mobile devices. It also updates related definitions in state law to align with this requirement, ensuring clarity around emergency communication systems. The law focuses solely on creating a concrete deadline for implementing this service, without specifying additional funding or enforcement details.

Maddy summaryHB 85 would expand Mississippi's Child Care Payment Program (CCPP) to include four new groups: high school parents, college students under 24 with multiple children, disabled caregivers, and grandparents raising children whose parents are incarcerated. It requires the state to amend its federal child care plan to add these eligibility categories and create an appeal process to the Attorney General for denied child care certificates. The bill died in committee in February 2025 and never became law, so these changes were never implemented.

Maddy summaryHB 1351 would rename Mississippi's Ross Barnett Reservoir (spanning Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Scott, and Leake counties) to the "William F. Winter and Fannie Lou Hamer Reservoir." The bill requires new signage and plaques across the reservoir basin to display the backgrounds and service of Governor William F. Winter and civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. These signs must be placed in prominent locations within each affected county and on the reservoir control tower. The renaming would take effect July 1, 2025, if enacted.