41-4-11 - Abolition of certain agencies, and transfer of authority, personnel and property to state board of mental health.

§ 41-4-11. Abolition of certain agencies, and transfer of authority, personnel and property to state board of mental health.
 

(1)  On July 1, 1974, the Board of Trustees of Mental Institutions of the State of Mississippi and the Mississippi Interagency Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Retardation shall be abolished. The authority now vested in the State Board of Health relating to mental health, drug misuse and alcoholism is hereby rescinded as of July 1, 1974. 

(2)  As of July 1, 1974, the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield, the East Mississippi State Hospital at Meridian, the Ellisville State School at Ellisville, the North Mississippi Regional Center at Oxford, and any other mental or retardation facility that may be established, shall become subject to the jurisdiction and control of the State Department of Mental Health. 

(3)  All duties, responsibilities, authority, power, assets, liabilities, contractual rights and obligations, and property rights, whether accruing or vesting in the abolished agencies before or after April 23, 1974, are hereby vested in the State Board of Mental Health. 

(4)  The board upon recommendation of the executive director shall select the heads of divisions and institutions necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter who shall have qualifications appropriate to the duties they must discharge. 

(5)  Employees of the abolished agencies or divisions of agencies holding positions on June 30, 1974, shall be employees of the State Department of Mental Health on July 1, 1974. The board may combine or abolish positions as necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. 

(6)  Subject to the provisions and limitations of this chapter as expressly set forth in Section 41-4-13, all offices, services, programs and other activities of the abolished agencies or divisions of agencies are hereby made offices, services, programs or other activities of the State Department of Mental Health, and the board is hereby authorized to reorganize such offices, services, programs or other activities so as to achieve economy and efficiency; and the said board may establish bureaus, divisions, hospitals, clinics, mental health centers, homes for the mentally retarded, or other facilities for providing mental health services if it finds such action to be in the public interest. 
 

Sources: Laws,  1974, ch. 567, § 6(1-6); Laws, 1992, ch. 336, § 23, eff from and after July 1, 1992.