Living

The 2022 Legislature enacted HB 1029 creating an office of broadband for the State of Mississippi. Governor Tate Reeves then appointed former Senator Sally Burchfield Doty as director of the office which is known as BEAM (Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi). The State will now have one point of contact for all broadband issues. The BEAM office will function under the Department of Finance and Administration.

At the direction of the 2020 Legislature, the Public Utilities Staff administered $75 million in CARES Act funding in broadband grants primarily for Electric Power Associations. More recently, in February of 2022, the Public Utilities Staff was awarded a $32 million grant for ten projects across the state. This administration and monitoring of this $32 million grant will be transferred to BEAM.

The Mississippi Board of Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists was established by the state legislature in 1987. Our mission is to ensure that the public is protected from the unprofessional, improper, unauthorized and unqualified practice of social work and marriage and family therapy.

The Board also regulates the practice of social work and marriage and family therapy in the state through investigation and disciplinary authority granted by Title 73, Chapters 53 and 54 of the Mississippi Code.