Mississippi Heroes Act; create to give supplemental pay to law enforcement officers.
HB1508 creates the Mississippi Heroes Support Act and establishes the Mississippi Heroes Support Fund to provide supplemental compensation to municipal, county, and state law enforcement officers based on years of continuous active-duty service. Eligible officers could receive $5,000 after five consecutive years, $10,000 after ten consecutive years, and $20,000 after twenty consecutive years, provided they have uninterrupted service and have never been terminated or suspended. The bill also creates a five-member board, with members appointed by statewide officials and required to have financial or money-management experience, to administer the fund.
To finance the fund, the bill redirects or adds assessments from several existing revenue sources, including portions of court assessments for traffic, implied-consent, drug, and criminal enhancement cases, a share of drug-related forfeiture proceeds, and increased driver’s license fees for Class R and Class D licenses. It also amends the state’s court assessment statute, forfeiture distribution law, criminal enhancement assessment, and driver-services fee statute to route money into the new fund. The act would take effect July 1, 2025.
The bill would add a new special fund in the State Treasury and change the distribution of several state assessments and forfeiture proceeds so that money is deposited into the Mississippi Heroes Support Fund. It amends Sections 99-19-73, 41-29-181, 99-19-307, and 63-1-43 of the Mississippi Code to create new revenue streams for the fund, including assessments tied to traffic, implied-consent, drug, and certain criminal cases, as well as a portion of drug forfeiture proceeds and higher fees for certain driver’s licenses. The measure would also create a new administrative board to oversee fund disbursements to law enforcement agencies.
The bill’s stated purpose and caption indicate a generally supportive posture toward law enforcement, framing the measure as supplemental pay for officers and a recognition of service. No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no documented debate or formal vote history to indicate broader legislative sentiment. Based on the text alone, the bill appears designed to be favorable to law enforcement personnel and agencies.
The main potential points of contention are fiscal and policy-related. The bill shifts money from court assessments, forfeiture proceeds, and driver’s license fees into a new law-enforcement compensation fund, which could draw concern from parties that currently benefit from those revenues or from those who oppose increasing fees and criminal assessments. The eligibility rules are also restrictive: only officers with uninterrupted active-duty service who have never been terminated or suspended qualify, which could raise questions about fairness, administration, and who is excluded. The board’s composition and the use of criminal-justice-related revenue to fund supplemental pay may also be debated.