Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 33 - MILITARY AFFAIRS (§§ 33-1-1 — 33-15-553) › Chapter 15 - EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND CIVIL DEFENSE (§§ 33-15-1 — 33-15-553) › Article 5 - DISASTER ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1993 (§§ 33-15-301 — 33-15-317) › Section 33-15-307 - When provisions of article invoked; Disaster Assistance Trust Fund

(1)
The provisions of this article shall be invoked only pursuant to a state of emergency declared by the Governor or an emergency or major disaster declared by the President, or pursuant to an executive order of the Governor, or administrative order of the director, in order to provide state or local government resources and personnel in compliance with the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, Section
45-18-1
et seq., or in nondeclared times for administrative and training costs associated with state disaster response and recovery programs. Each declaration shall cite the cause for the declaration and define the area eligible for assistance and the type of assistance to be provided.
(2)
The Disaster Assistance Trust Fund is created as a special fund in the State Treasury into which shall be paid any funds appropriated or otherwise made available by the Legislature for disaster assistance, any funds transferred from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund as provided under subsection (5) of this section, any income from investment of the funds in the trust fund, and federal reimbursement for administrative costs for management of the Individuals and Households Program (IHP), the Public Assistance Program, the Hazard Mitigation Program and Disaster Reservist Program.
(3)
Income from investment of the funds in the trust fund, and all other funds deposited therein pursuant to law, shall be available for expenditure, transfer and allocation pursuant to this article.
(4)
The Disaster Assistance Trust Fund shall be used only for the following purposes:
(a)
The state's portion of the cost share for public assistance under a major disaster declaration.
(b)
The state's cost share of the Individuals and Households Program (IHP) pursuant to Section
33-15-209(1)
under a major disaster declared by the President.
©)
Administrative costs for managing the IHP.
(d)
Administrative costs for managing the Public Assistance Program.
(e)
The State Temporary Housing Program pursuant to Section
33-15-217
under a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
(f)
Out-of-pocket expenses, including travel, per diem, overtime and other similar expenses, of state or local agencies when so tasked by the Governor or the director for emergency response under the provisions of Section
33-15-11(b)(7)
and current executive orders. This includes actual emergency response and recovery activities, and applies to mobilization and deployment of personnel from state or local agencies to another state under the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. At the discretion of the director, this may include reimbursement of costs to local governments for overtime and backfill of deployed personnel within the state under the provisions of Section
33-15-15(a)
and to jurisdictions who are signatories of the Statewide Mutual Aid Compact (SMAC).
(g)
Costs incurred as a result of state active duty for the Mississippi National Guard when so tasked by the Governor to provide support to other agencies and local governments in a major disaster or emergency situation, or when tasked by the Governor to provide support to another state under the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact.
(h)
The state's portion of the cost share for hazard mitigation under a major disaster declaration.
(I)
Administrative costs of the Hazard Mitigation Program.
(j)
Costs incurred as a result of the implementation of the Disaster Reservist Program under a major disaster declaration.
(k)
Administrative costs of the Disaster Reservist Program.
(l)
Costs incurred as a result of the implementation of public assistance, and/or individual assistance, and/or Disaster Reservist Program, and/or hazard mitigation, and/or temporary housing under a Governor's state of emergency.
(m)
The state's portion of the cost share for public assistance under a major disaster declaration for tornado or other storm damage to public facilities and infrastructure occurring on November 10, 2002, as provided in Sections 1 through 16 of Chapter 3, Third Extraordinary Session 2002.
(n)
Actual costs, including personnel call-back wages, base and overtime wages, travel, per diem and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred by regional response teams as a result of being mobilized or deployed when so tasked by the Governor pursuant to Section
33-15-11(b)(7)
, or by the director for emergency response pursuant to Section
33-15-15(a)
.
(o)
The state's portion of the cost share for public assistance under the Presidential Declaration of Major Disaster for the State of Mississippi (FEMA-1604-DR) dated August 29, 2005, for hurricane or other storm damage to public facilities and infrastructure as a result of Hurricane Katrina, as provided in Section 3 of Chapter 538, Laws of 2006.
(p)
Costs incurred for alternative housing grants up to Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00) per county, per event, to be administered by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency for materials only for repairs to communities that do not qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency Individual Assistance Grants.
(q)
Costs incurred by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, approved by the executive director, to assist municipalities and counties by allowing them to apply and receive funds for debris removal support, which funds shall be reimbursed to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency at the date determined after the federal disaster declaration. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to administer this program.
(5)
Whenever the director determines that funds are immediately needed in the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund to provide for disaster assistance under this article, he shall notify the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration of his determination and shall requisition the amount of funds from the Working Cash-Stabilization Fund that are needed in the trust fund, which shall be subject to the limitations set forth below in this subsection. At the same time he makes the requisition, the director shall notify the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the respective Chairmen of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, the House Appropriations Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee of his determination of the need for the funds and the amount that he has requisitioned. Upon receipt of such a requisition from the director, the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration shall ascertain if the amount requisitioned is available in the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund and is within the limitations set forth below in this subsection and, if it is, he shall transfer that amount from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund to the trust fund. If the amount requisitioned is more than the amount available in the Working Cash-Stabilization Fund or above the limitations set forth below in this subsection, the executive director shall transfer the amount that is available within the limitations. The maximum amount that may be transferred from the Working Cash-Stabilization Reserve Fund to the trust fund for any disaster or disasters occurrence shall be One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00) and the maximum amount that may be transferred during any fiscal year shall be Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00).
(6)
Unexpended state funds in the Disaster Assistance Trust Fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund but shall remain in the trust fund for use under this article for as long as the funds are needed for the particular purpose for which they were appropriated, deposited or transferred into the trust fund. After any state funds in the trust fund are no longer needed for the particular purpose for which they were appropriated, deposited or transferred into the trust fund, the director may use those funds for any other purpose under this article for which they currently are needed and for which other funds are not available. If there is no current need for such funds for any purpose under this article, the funds and the income earned from the investment of the funds shall be transferred back to the particular fund or funds in the State Treasury from which they were appropriated or transferred into the trust fund, upon certification of the director to the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration that the funds are not currently needed; however, if such funds are derived from the proceeds of general obligation bonds issued by the state under Section 3 of Chapter 538, Laws of 2006, such excess funds and the income earned from such funds shall be utilized to pay the debt service on such bonds.
Laws, 1993, ch. 412, § 4; Laws, 1994, ch. 433, § 1; Laws, 1998, ch. 338, § 3; Laws, 2000, ch. 413, § 5; Laws, 2001, ch. 341, § 1; Laws, 2002, 3rd Ex Sess, ch. 3, § 18; Laws, 2004, ch. 386, § 2; Laws, 2004, ch. 490, § 2; Laws, 2006, ch. 374, § 3; Laws, 2006, ch. 538, § 4, eff. 4/14/2006.
Amended by Laws, 2020, ch. 469, HB 524,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2020.