Senate Bill 2179 Summary

• Creates a new Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services with a Commissioner appointed by the Governor who must have a bachelor's degree with 10 years of management/public administration/finance experience, or a master's/doctoral degree with 5 years of such experience.

• Transfers all functions of the Office of Family and Children's Services from the Department of Human Services to the new Department of Child Protection Services effective July 1, 2018, with a transition plan to be developed by the Commissioner and the Executive Director of Human Services.

• Exempts the Commissioner of Child Protection Services from statutory salary limitations, allowing the Governor to set the salary independent of the 150% cap on state executive salaries.

• Exempts personal service contracts and personnel actions of both the Department of Human Services and Department of Child Protection Services from state review board regulations through specified dates (generally through 2018-2019).

• Exempts the Department of Human Services and Department of Child Protection Services from Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services regulations for three years beginning July 1, 2016, with notice requirements to MDITS for proposed actions.