---
type: "Bill"
title: "Group health insurance; allow local governing authorities to pay employee's benefits for dependents."
description: "Group health insurance; allow local governing authorities to pay employee's benefits for dependents."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ms"
legislature: "Mississippi Legislature"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 1249"
citation: "Mississippi HB 1249 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["County Affairs", "Finance"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bennett"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-01-21T06:00:00+00:00"
last_action: "2019-04-18T05:00:00+00:00"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9d7c5f25-3b8b-48c2-8a6a-04fad92dd6db"
source_url: "http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2019/pdf/House_authors/Bennett.xml"
source_hash: "63684e4080337331f65d5bb0377c8b3b892d0b9d0958745eda179b834a08e5c7"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ms"]
---

# Mississippi HB 1249 (2019) — Group health insurance; allow local governing authorities to pay employee's benefits for dependents.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **As Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/html/HB/1200-1299/HB1249IN.htm)
2. **Amendment Report for House Bill No. 1249** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/pdf/sam/Amendment_Report_for_HB1249.pdf)
3. **As Passed the lower** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/html/HB/1200-1299/HB1249PS.htm)
4. **Committee Amendment No 1 (Adopted) (Voice Vote)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/pdf/sam/HB1249_S_Cmte_Amend_01.pdf)
5. **Committee Substitute** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/html/HB/1200-1299/HB1249CS.htm)
6. **Current version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2019/html/HB/1200-1299/HB1249SG.htm)

## Votes

- Adopt Conference Report — **109–3** (pass) · lower
- Adopt Conference Report — **51–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage as Amended — **49–3** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **112–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bennett — primary (person)
- Currie — cosponsor (person)
- Lamar — cosponsor (person)
- Mickens — cosponsor (person)
- Sykes — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-21T06:00:00+00:00** Referred To County Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-01-29T06:00:00+00:00** Title Suff Do Pass Comm Sub `committee-passage`
- **2019-01-30T06:00:00+00:00** Committee Substitute Adopted `substitution`
- **2019-01-30T06:00:00+00:00** Passed `passage`
- **2019-01-31T06:00:00+00:00** Transmitted To Senate `introduction`
- **2019-02-26T06:00:00+00:00** Referred To Finance `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-05T06:00:00+00:00** Title Suff Do Pass As Amended `committee-passage`
- **2019-03-07T06:00:00+00:00** Amended `amendment-passage`
- **2019-03-07T06:00:00+00:00** Passed As Amended `passage`
- **2019-03-11T05:00:00+00:00** Returned For Concurrence
- **2019-03-12T05:00:00+00:00** Decline to Concur/Invite Conf
- **2019-03-19T05:00:00+00:00** Conferees Named Byrd,Bennett,Reynolds
- **2019-03-22T05:00:00+00:00** Conferees Named Fillingane,Kirby,Carter
- **2019-03-26T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Filed
- **2019-03-26T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Filed
- **2019-03-27T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Adopted
- **2019-03-28T05:00:00+00:00** Conference Report Adopted
- **2019-04-02T05:00:00+00:00** Enrolled Bill Signed
- **2019-04-02T05:00:00+00:00** Enrolled Bill Signed
- **2019-04-18T05:00:00+00:00** Approved by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9d7c5f25-3b8b-48c2-8a6a-04fad92dd6db`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Mississippi legislature records).