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Well, Jim, have you got a grandfather joke for us today?

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Not a grandfather joke, but it's an old joke.

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Seems like during President Trump's first term, somebody came in from the real rural parts
of Mississippi to Tupelo and was standing in front of Jack Reed's store and saw this box

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that had looked like movies going on and...

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different people talking and all sorts of things.

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And he decided he just had to have one of those things.

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It was fabulous.

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He'd never seen anything like it.

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So he went in and he bought a TV.

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Took it back to the farm.

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Next day, turned it on.

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And all he got to it when he first turned it on was Donald Trump.

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So he turned the knob.

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and it was Donald Trump and he turned it to another channel.

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was Donald Trump.

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So after about five or six of these, he called Reed's and complained that his TV wasn't
working.

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So they sent a technician out.

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Technician checked out his TV inside and it was working fine.

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And he asked him, said, well, where's your antenna?

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He said, it's outside.

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So the technician went outside, was out there about two minutes, came back in.

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turn the TV on.

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There was the dating game.

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next channel had Wheel of Fortune.

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The next channel had Turner Classic Movies.

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He said, that's great.

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What did you do?

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He said, well, you had your antenna hooked up to your maneuver spreader.

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Okey dokey, we will take that Jim, thank you for that.

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Also, Jim had his teeth cleaned today.

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He dropped them off at nine o'clock and he's gonna pick them up later this afternoon.

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Got it.

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Each week we discuss kitchen table issues that all of us face in Mississippi.

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Not only will we discuss those issues, but offer information.

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from experts in their field with solutions or plan of action.

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As most of you know, we focus on a lot of, we focus a lot of attention on public
education, healthcare, our prison system, voting rights, and Mississippi taxes.

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Today, we have a guest that has first-hand knowledge and experience on all of those issues
and how Mississippians, especially forgotten and neglected Mississippians.

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Our guest is Greta Kemp-Martin.

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She is a Litigation Director for Disability Rights Mississippi.

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She was formerly an associate attorney at Langston & Langston, as well as formerly with
Canopy Children's Solution.

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She is a graduate of Mississippi College of Law and an Ole Miss graduate, and she was the
Democratic candidate in 2023 for attorney general.

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Greta, it is so good to see you and so good to talk to you today.

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Yes, thank you both for having me.

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This is wonderful.

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I'll get to spend some time with you two.

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Good, and I want to say to everybody, Greta is one of my favorite people.

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She has such a passion for what she believes in, and she has, as we like to call, a
servant's heart, and that's something that we don't see quite a bit today.

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So Greta, let's get right into it.

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Tell us about your organization, Disability Rights Mississippi.

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Yeah, so Disability Rights Mississippi, the RMS, it's the protection and advocacy agency
for the state of Mississippi.

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There's one in every state and territory across the country, at least for now.

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We are tasked with protecting the rights of Mississippians with disabilities.

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And while we have several partner agencies across the state that do that, we're unique in
the fact that we have a legal arm, which where I come in.

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So not only are we able to provide advocacy services across several issues, education,
civil rights, voting, things like that, but if the need goes beyond just general advocacy,

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we have the ability to represent people in court.

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And we do that on an individual basis, or if it's a systemic issue, we're able to do
bigger, more impactful litigation.

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So, for example, we can represent people in

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employment discrimination cases, but we also have filed lawsuits against state agencies to
fix the problem, right?

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Not just go in and help one person, but to fix the entire system.

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So we're very unique in that role.

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with public schools?

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Public schools are prohibited by federal law from discriminating against students with
disabilities.

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And they can't deny them equal rights.

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And they've got to allow them to participate in extracurricular activities and school
technology and health services, et cetera.

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But it seems to me,

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That accountability is not the same for charter schools and private schools.

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Because I know of cases where students with disabilities, the public schools provided more
benefits to the student than the private school did.

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And yet they were forced to do it.

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Right.

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And that's actually a limitation that we have at our agency because we are our access
authority, which allows us to go and monitor and investigate schools and jails and mental

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health facilities actually stops at the door of charter and private schools because they
don't receive any state or federal funding.

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So it is a limitation.

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And unfortunately, in my opinion, it's a gap in our federal laws that doesn't extend to
those education

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educational settings.

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We have problems all the time within the walls of private facilities that we can't get
into.

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So the public law, the law that governs public education and disabilities does not apply
to private schools or charter schools?

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It should, it does, but it's a lot harder to prove that they have committed discriminatory
practices because it's so hard to give any oversight within those facilities.

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And I guess, and correct me if I'm wrong on this, but also the charter schools, the
private schools, they can pick and choose the students that they want.

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So if they've got to go to extra to allow or to admit maybe a better term, a student with
special needs, then they probably

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don't even want that student there.

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Is that a fair statement?

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That's a very clear statement.

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And let's say, for example, if a student with special needs slips through in the
admissions process, once that student's on campus, there's a very unlikely chance they're

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going to get the full range of services they need because that school doesn't believe that
they are entitled to provide those extra services, right?

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You're almost like, we've gifted you the ability to be on this special campus.

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Why should we provide you more services than any other child?

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And that's, you know, as we know,

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some children need additional services.

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again, the problem is getting into these private and charter schools for any type of
oversight.

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I mean, it's like Fort Knox.

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Our public schools may be lacking in a lot of areas, but we certainly have oversight on
those facilities, including my agency that is able to go in and monitor.

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Well, how do you feel about the recent legislation that allows homeschooled and I believe
private or charter schools to participate in extracurricular activities at public schools

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even though they're not enrolled there?

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We are very much against that legislation.

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If you are being educated in a separate setting that is being funded privately or being
funded by your own pocket, I don't believe you have a place in publicly funded sports.

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they not, or let me rephrase it, will they have to measure up to the standards of public
schools in order to be eligible to participate in the extracurricular activities?

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So I think that's a variable that we don't know right now.

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I think...

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In my opinion, if you're being educated outside of the public school system, that should
exclude you from those extracurricular activities.

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You're taking away an opportunity that could be given to children who are rightfully in
the public school system.

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And you're being waged up against students who are going through a public school system
separate and apart from the other educational settings that we have.

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And it certainly, in my opinion, raises an issue of liability on the part of, you know, we
expect certain safety standards to be applied with our public school extracurriculars that

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we are not as clear are being applied in private school settings.

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You're talking about apples and oranges.

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I'm of the opinion that there's a lot of homeschoolers that are not, know, let me see,
parents of homeschoolers, that they're not really for this, you know, especially if

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they've got to turn over information.

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to people, to school people, to school officials.

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I think that's a much ado about nothing as far as homeschoolers.

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They have their choice.

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But I do want to ask you this.

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What about, is there any resources that parents of homeschoolers

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that have disabilities, there any resources from them, from Disability Rights Mississippi?

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absolutely.

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have we have a whole team that's focused on children's rights.

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It's actually a children's rights team and they assist children who are in public school
settings, private school settings, anyone in an educational environment.

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We are always happy to provide referrals, resources and advocacy services and we're pro
bono free of charge service to any Mississippian who needs our so we've got some wonderful

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advocates with.

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educational backgrounds that are astounding and they've been advocates for decades.

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So we certainly are willing to help anyone no matter their educational setting because we
want to make sure that no matter what setting a child's in that they are getting the

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services they need.

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Gotcha.

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One of the things that I found out in the past couple years about education, and
especially children with autism or special disabilities, that there was some issue, and

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maybe it's been cleared up now, as far as IEP.

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And remind me, what is IEP, and how does that affect special needs students?

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So an IEP is an individual educational plan or individualized education plan.

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so what those are, the IEPs are created by utilizing a team of people who are involved in
a child's educational life.

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So it can include the parent, can include teachers, administrators.

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These people come together and wrap around the student and provide support services and
come up with an educational plan that suits that particular student.

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So a child with disabilities is boxed into the standard educational setting that a public
school might provide, right?

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So we have found through the years that not every child learns the same way, not every
child focuses the same way.

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And so individual education plans are developed through a team.

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It is the responsibility of the school to implement that plan.

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And so a lot of times people reach out to disability rights.

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Mississippi when their school fails to uphold the IEP plan.

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So a lot of times our advocates are going in to educate and help the school implement the
plan that services the child best.

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And those plans are renewed annually so they're looked at every year.

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That's great information and thank you for that.

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We've had the opportunity to talk to Nancy Loom with the Parents Campaign.

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We've had a chance to talk to Erica Jones with the MAE Mississippi Association of
Educators.

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So thank you for that information.

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Let's talk about, and I've gone through some of your reports that's on your website.

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what's your website?

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there's some great information on that.

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Let's talk about our prison systems for a bit and tell us about the work that your
organization and you are doing within the prison system.

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So as part of the access authority that we're mandated through Congress, we are able to go
in and monitor and investigate any facility that provides services and programs to people

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with disabilities.

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And as you can imagine, our prisons and jails house people with mental illness, people
with other disabilities.

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So Disability Rights Mississippi started monitoring MDOC, the Department of Corrections
facilities around 2018, the beginning of

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And what we observed was a substantial lack of adequate medical and mental health care.

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That was the overarching problem.

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But as we dug into that, we saw that there were also issues with people with disabilities
being provided accommodations.

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And an example of that would be an individual who had a disability that was denied work
services, right?

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So they weren't able to

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participate in work services on campus in order to earn money and to order good time for
potential release.

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So we have been monitoring that fairly regularly for the last five years and providing
that data both to the Department of Corrections as well as the Mississippi legislature.

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We submitted a report back in 2021 of our findings on the...

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medical and mental health care.

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And we just haven't seen a whole lot of substantial improvement in that.

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So we filed a lawsuit back in 2022.

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That lawsuit has since been dismissed.

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But we are still working on the ground in MDOT facilities and will likely file suit again
in the future.

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Could I kind of go back to education for just a second?

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Representative Hood has a bill to, I guess, outlaw or take away the DEI, diversity, et
cetera.

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And it seems to me that ever since we started with integration back in the 50s, there's
been a push

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and a thought that...

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Exposure to everybody, every color, every race, handicapped, non-handicapped, whatever, is
good for education.

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What is, what Mr.

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Hood is trying to do is eliminate DEI in the state of Mississippi and does that not affect
handicapped students in public school?

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Yes.

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You know, DEI is not only good for schools, it's good for our state.

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It's good for the country.

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It's good for the world.

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Knowing and seeing other people's experiences and being surrounded by different people,
it's just a natural way to be.

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It's just wonderful.

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what I don't think that people understand is that DEI programs include accessibility
programs, and that includes things that affect people with disabilities.

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So the accommodations,

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that a person might enjoy at school or work, slashing a DEI program could take that away.

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There is a lawsuit right now out of Texas that's attacking section 504 of the
rehabilitation plan.

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Well, that's a direct attack to IEPs.

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And if you think that they won't come after the Americans with Disabilities Act, then you
haven't been paying attention.

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These are small steps that are being taken to eliminate what they have

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swept in front of you is DEI, but it is responsible.

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DEI is responsible for some programs that positively impact so many Mississippians that I
don't believe they're going to realize what's happened until it's taken away from them.

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anything that promotes inclusion and accessibility, that directly affects people with
disabilities.

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And whenever it happens in Mississippi first, it's going to end up in the Supreme Court
and there's going to be other states jumping in at the same time.

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oftentimes you'll hear it said DEIA and the A stands for accessibility.

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it's oftentimes diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility which is a target on people
with disabilities.

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Well, I saw I was up in DeSoto County last week and I mentioned to David, I was behind a
van and the van had a license plate.

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And apparently in DeSoto County, there are license plates issued by the state that are DEI
and then the magnolia and then the numbers.

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I'm sure that that is a fluke.

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know, good point.

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Good point.

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Do you find that there's a lot of these organizations, a lot of these that we talked
about, maybe some of the schools and some of the prisons that are not ADA compliant?

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especially maybe in the prisons.

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yes, yes.

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And you're looking at both structural.

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So there's a difference between structural accessibility and like programmatic
accessibility.

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So, you know, the structural is your building, right?

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There's not a ramp.

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The doors are not wide enough, but your programmatic accessibility is actually a bigger
problem in that the programs within some of these facilities aren't open to with

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disabilities.

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00:20:53,935 --> 00:20:58,079
And so that could be as simple as programs that are open

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individuals who are incarcerated may not be accessible to somebody with a disability.

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So they aren't able to take part in services while they're incarcerated that everyone
might be able to take part in.

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And that's important, right?

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Because we want individuals who are incarcerated, it's a rehabilitation piece that we want
them to find services, or programs, or trade, or an employment that they can then

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transition back into their community.

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But if that's not accessible,

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to people with disabilities, about 76 % of your inmate population have some kind of
disability.

210
00:21:33,735 --> 00:21:36,886
So that's 76 % of people who can't participate.

211
00:21:37,187 --> 00:21:43,249
And so what kind of future are we setting up for them once they transition out of
incarceration?

212
00:21:44,631 --> 00:22:00,687
One of the things I do want to give a shout out to our House of Representative member
Justis Gibbs who recently was able to pass through the House allow giving protection

213
00:22:00,788 --> 00:22:05,251
equipment to incarcerated people.

214
00:22:07,374 --> 00:22:23,697
So, and we read about a story and I can't recall the woman's name, who basically, because
of the chemicals that she was coming in touch with, you know, that she's now in stage four

215
00:22:23,697 --> 00:22:24,418
cancer.

216
00:22:24,418 --> 00:22:35,421
Now, as far as voting rights for the disability, how does that work and what's going on
with that?

217
00:22:36,201 --> 00:22:46,405
So we receive a specific stream of funding through the Help America Vote Act that allows
us to assist with voter assistance for people with disabilities.

218
00:22:47,226 --> 00:22:56,830
So every year around election time, we work on the accessibility of polling sites, which
it's not great, especially in our more rural counties.

219
00:22:57,351 --> 00:23:02,433
Unfortunately, our Secretary of State, Michael Watson, has not been receptive to that
data.

220
00:23:02,433 --> 00:23:06,307
He sends this to the election commissioners, which is sometimes

221
00:23:06,307 --> 00:23:08,949
circus depending on what county you're in.

222
00:23:08,989 --> 00:23:14,113
Election commissioners are sometimes involved and sometimes not.

223
00:23:14,113 --> 00:23:19,558
So we've been really struggling with the accessibility piece of polling sites.

224
00:23:19,558 --> 00:23:31,567
But overarchingly outside of our Help America Vote Act money, were able, we were part of
the group that litigated against the ballot harvesting legislation a couple of years ago.

225
00:23:32,048 --> 00:23:35,610
There was legislation that was passed that

226
00:23:35,963 --> 00:23:44,550
really put in danger the people that, like caretakers and family members that help people
with disabilities and help our elders to vote.

227
00:23:44,550 --> 00:23:53,276
And so there was a potential criminal penalty put on caretakers and people that might
assist people in getting their ballots mailed.

228
00:23:53,357 --> 00:24:05,746
And us along with Southern Poverty Law and ACLU, we were able to litigate that and we got
that law reversed and caretakers are protected and it was a big win for us.

229
00:24:05,799 --> 00:24:11,210
especially for those in the disability community that rely on others to help them vote,
right?

230
00:24:11,797 --> 00:24:23,337
But our day-to-day voting rights work is really more focused on the accessibility of
polling sites and just trying to break through the fact that we have people in like

231
00:24:23,337 --> 00:24:27,397
Isoquena County voting out of a FEMA trailer that doesn't have a ramp.

232
00:24:27,397 --> 00:24:31,317
mean, it's just it's a consistent problem.

233
00:24:31,317 --> 00:24:39,897
We have multiple complaints every election day, but it's almost like we're chasing our
tail because once we get one fixed, like 14 pop up.

234
00:24:39,897 --> 00:24:42,251
And so that's an ongoing

235
00:24:42,664 --> 00:24:51,591
and something that unfortunately we can only do around Election Day because a lot of these
voting precincts are temporary precincts.

236
00:24:51,591 --> 00:24:58,807
So every Election Day the entire office sets out and we do polling monitoring across the
state.

237
00:24:58,807 --> 00:25:02,670
We put on our sneakers and we head out and boots on the ground checking them out.

238
00:25:02,670 --> 00:25:11,947
But you know we're working very hard to make sure that polling sites are accessible, just
physically accessible to people.

239
00:25:12,442 --> 00:25:21,182
Well, when they're not accessible, and I can only speak in Tupelo, when they're not
accessible,

240
00:25:24,856 --> 00:25:28,767
our circuit clerk, and the polling site managers.

241
00:25:30,436 --> 00:25:44,087
when they have time, we'll come out to the car and bring a ballot and provide the
handicapped person the opportunity to vote.

242
00:25:45,329 --> 00:25:54,135
And apparently, from what I understand, in a number of places in the first congressional
district, that is not an option.

243
00:25:54,616 --> 00:25:57,618
The circuit clerks just say, nope, we're not doing it.

244
00:25:58,159 --> 00:25:59,340
And they don't.

245
00:25:59,657 --> 00:26:02,338
Yeah, unfortunately we see that across the state.

246
00:26:02,839 --> 00:26:15,634
Or even if you have a polling site manager who's willing to do that, if someone with a
disability pulls up to the polling precinct by themselves and there's no number posted to

247
00:26:15,634 --> 00:26:21,227
alert the poll manager to come out, I mean, there's a communication gap there as well.

248
00:26:21,227 --> 00:26:29,932
So even if you have a polling manager, some of these locations, they don't give them the
ability to alert the polling manager that they're there.

249
00:26:29,932 --> 00:26:37,841
And the fix for that is that there's supposed to be a polling, a poll worker posted
outside to assist with curbside voting.

250
00:26:37,841 --> 00:26:44,147
And we see almost an 85 % failure across the board on that.

251
00:26:45,690 --> 00:26:48,493
There's supposed to be somebody outside looking for that.

252
00:26:48,767 --> 00:27:00,144
that polling places are not subject to the Disabilities Act?

253
00:27:01,311 --> 00:27:02,105
So.

254
00:27:02,311 --> 00:27:08,514
mainly because a vast majority of polling precincts serve as something else, right?

255
00:27:08,514 --> 00:27:18,118
So you have churches, have, you know, circuit clerks offices, you have some voting
precincts are temporary, right?

256
00:27:18,118 --> 00:27:22,450
They pop up a trailer just for the day of voting.

257
00:27:22,450 --> 00:27:28,393
So that's where, because there are certain sections of the ADA that apply to certain
facilities.

258
00:27:28,393 --> 00:27:32,375
So there's a title of the ADA that applies to public places.

259
00:27:32,375 --> 00:27:34,666
There's certain things that don't apply to churches.

260
00:27:34,666 --> 00:27:38,418
There's certain things that don't apply to private places.

261
00:27:38,418 --> 00:27:40,239
So that's where it gets hard.

262
00:27:40,239 --> 00:27:48,203
The ADA doesn't apply to polling places because polling places are oftentimes other
things.

263
00:27:48,963 --> 00:27:51,684
And so because of the temporary...

264
00:27:52,735 --> 00:27:58,107
status of polling precincts, it's hard to apply the Americans with Disabilities Act to
that.

265
00:27:58,107 --> 00:28:01,918
But you can look at the underlying facilities.

266
00:28:01,918 --> 00:28:08,810
So let's say if it's done at a church that's not accessible, you can look at how the ADA
applies to that church.

267
00:28:09,611 --> 00:28:16,213
And then it would be up to the church to make it accessible because the church has held
themselves out to be...

268
00:28:16,713 --> 00:28:18,415
an accessible polling precinct.

269
00:28:18,415 --> 00:28:23,308
So that's where it gets complicated is that you're not looking at it as a polling
precinct.

270
00:28:23,308 --> 00:28:26,901
You have to look at it as what it functions as normally.

271
00:28:27,753 --> 00:28:32,315
And churches are a bad example because we do find churches to be accessible.

272
00:28:32,315 --> 00:28:41,869
So I hate to keep picking on churches, that's, churches are usually our most accessible
sites because they obviously want to be accessible for their parishioners.

273
00:28:41,869 --> 00:28:44,890
So those are always good ones.

274
00:28:44,890 --> 00:28:46,941
So I don't mean to pick on churches.

275
00:28:47,118 --> 00:28:54,671
I know we've got a bunch of legislators that would like to see voter suppression, but
personally I would like to see.

276
00:28:56,324 --> 00:29:05,530
polling place is subject to having that ADA compliance because the only thing we have is
our vote.

277
00:29:06,772 --> 00:29:13,496
And if we are denied that vote, then we have no voice in our government.

278
00:29:14,729 --> 00:29:28,015
And know, separate and apart from accessibility, if anybody, any of y'all's listeners or
even you, calling Senator Jeremy England and thanking him for that early voting bill, I

279
00:29:28,015 --> 00:29:30,596
mean, that was, that bill is great.

280
00:29:30,596 --> 00:29:34,078
That is, the disability community was happy to see it.

281
00:29:34,078 --> 00:29:40,341
I love seeing senators and legislators able to work across the aisle.

282
00:29:40,341 --> 00:29:42,742
I don't care what our governor says about it.

283
00:29:42,942 --> 00:29:45,153
That was an awesome,

284
00:29:45,224 --> 00:29:49,689
piece of legislation that's going to go so far for Mississippians.

285
00:29:49,930 --> 00:29:55,898
Early voting is, there's nothing wrong with early voting and it is so helpful to people
with disabilities.

286
00:29:55,898 --> 00:30:01,115
We were really happy and kudos to to Senator England for that work.

287
00:30:01,115 --> 00:30:12,242
the governor vetoes it there's enough votes to override his veto because it certainly is a
law that is very favorable to everybody.

288
00:30:12,242 --> 00:30:13,675
and favorable to Republicans.

289
00:30:13,675 --> 00:30:17,131
I believe I read that it was part of the Republican platform.

290
00:30:17,131 --> 00:30:23,241
I mean, this is, it's fights to pick a fight and we have, it's just ridiculous.

291
00:30:23,241 --> 00:30:25,244
It's silliness is what it is.

292
00:30:25,627 --> 00:30:28,392
Well, thank you for bringing up Senator England.

293
00:30:28,392 --> 00:30:33,735
Thank you for that because, yeah, that's quite important and we do appreciate it.

294
00:30:33,735 --> 00:30:35,223
in the coal mine?

295
00:30:36,836 --> 00:30:39,851
The canary in the coal mine Jim?

296
00:30:40,193 --> 00:30:42,958
Okay, what is the canary of the coal mine?

297
00:30:43,236 --> 00:30:54,324
Well, the last time she ran for attorney general, she ran as an advocate for women's
choice.

298
00:30:54,617 --> 00:30:55,533
Okay.

299
00:30:58,032 --> 00:31:05,640
And despite everybody's talking, she did not get elected.

300
00:31:10,980 --> 00:31:13,145
What happened?

301
00:31:13,145 --> 00:31:19,877
What didn't turn out the way you thought it should?

302
00:31:21,001 --> 00:31:22,904
Where was the shortcomings?

303
00:31:24,397 --> 00:31:30,960
I mean, Attorney General Fitch had too much money.

304
00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,192
mean, she was going to beat me on money all day long.

305
00:31:35,192 --> 00:31:41,804
And as much as I hate to admit it, and we probably all hate to admit it, money is driving
force behind politics.

306
00:31:42,585 --> 00:31:52,349
And, you know, I don't know that there's enough people statewide that's ready for a loud
female Democrat.

307
00:31:53,526 --> 00:31:58,509
who is very pro-choice and says some of the things that I say.

308
00:31:58,509 --> 00:32:08,286
mean, it's, you know, I really wanted to be frank and honest about my beliefs and my
positions because I think they will make for a better Mississippi.

309
00:32:08,286 --> 00:32:20,045
And I just don't know that there were enough people ready to mark yes beside a Democrat
who was as vocal as I was, specifically around choice and women's health.

310
00:32:20,112 --> 00:32:26,023
Well, the interesting thing to me was that Jim Hood ran as...

311
00:32:26,677 --> 00:32:27,533
Mm-hmm.

312
00:32:27,788 --> 00:32:29,830
And so did Brandon Presley.

313
00:32:29,830 --> 00:32:31,751
Neither of them got elected.

314
00:32:33,313 --> 00:32:36,595
So I think you're on the right track.

315
00:32:37,496 --> 00:32:52,738
And I would hope that this time around, the Democratic Party will become a financial
supporter of yours with a sufficient amount of money.

316
00:32:53,486 --> 00:32:59,491
because it's by understanding that Attorney General Finch is considering running for
governor.

317
00:32:59,861 --> 00:33:01,309
That's my understanding.

318
00:33:01,740 --> 00:33:11,199
So it could be a wide open race and I think your name recognition, I think you're sitting
in a very good position.

319
00:33:11,909 --> 00:33:12,792
It's

320
00:33:13,284 --> 00:33:15,138
What are you laughing about, David?

321
00:33:15,138 --> 00:33:32,738
well, what, Gretta, I think what Jim is trying to ask or wants to ask or leading up to, do
you have other political aspirations in the future?

322
00:33:33,918 --> 00:33:35,118
Okay.

323
00:33:36,009 --> 00:33:41,270
We are looking at a few things and the Attorney General is one of them.

324
00:33:41,270 --> 00:33:42,290
Excellent.

325
00:33:42,811 --> 00:33:43,771
Excellent.

326
00:33:43,771 --> 00:33:45,691
We appreciate that.

327
00:33:45,811 --> 00:33:48,402
And that is good to know.

328
00:33:48,402 --> 00:33:55,454
you know that you have, know who your supporters are and you know that we will help you
wherever we can.

329
00:33:55,995 --> 00:34:07,398
One of the things that you brought up briefly, and it's also in your, one of your reports
was about unlicensed

330
00:34:07,696 --> 00:34:10,553
personal care homes.

331
00:34:10,553 --> 00:34:12,477
Tell us a little bit about that.

332
00:34:13,161 --> 00:34:17,963
Yeah, so personal care homes are licensed through the Department of Health.

333
00:34:18,103 --> 00:34:21,174
They serve when they are licensed and they are appropriate.

334
00:34:21,174 --> 00:34:28,628
They serve as a very good transition piece for people transitioning out of mental health
institutions, prisons, jails.

335
00:34:28,628 --> 00:34:34,771
It's good like halfway house type model, but they also provide medical assistance and
support.

336
00:34:34,771 --> 00:34:36,252
That's when they're licensed.

337
00:34:36,252 --> 00:34:43,105
But unfortunately, Mississippi has like a plague of what we call unlicensed personal

338
00:34:43,105 --> 00:34:48,739
care homes, it's homes operating under the under the radar.

339
00:34:50,541 --> 00:35:03,231
Without licensure, the regs do not the regulations do not provide any type of oversight or
enforcement or penalty for these operators who run these homes.

340
00:35:03,272 --> 00:35:04,036
And

341
00:35:04,036 --> 00:35:05,956
to have a certificate of need?

342
00:35:06,389 --> 00:35:18,189
you're supposed to but you but these these these folks are operating under the black of
night they're they're not they have not done anything that they're supposed to do they're

343
00:35:18,189 --> 00:35:28,612
they don't apply for a license certificate of need or anything there's no there's nobody
who is responsible for enforcing that

344
00:35:28,612 --> 00:35:29,557
Really?

345
00:35:29,637 --> 00:35:30,357
No one.

346
00:35:30,357 --> 00:35:33,141
It is a hole in our regulations.

347
00:35:33,322 --> 00:35:43,155
And so what DRMS has started doing is we stepped in and have been filing lawsuits against
unlicensed personal care home for injunctive relief to shut them down or make them get a

348
00:35:43,155 --> 00:35:44,004
license.

349
00:35:44,004 --> 00:35:44,800
Good.

350
00:35:45,011 --> 00:35:46,812
But we can't continue that, right?

351
00:35:46,812 --> 00:35:51,464
Because when I say there are hundreds of these across the state, there are hundreds.

352
00:35:51,704 --> 00:35:59,047
And we've been doing this for about two years with these injunctions, and we submitted our
data to the legislature.

353
00:35:59,808 --> 00:36:03,250
And unfortunately, we did not get any type of response.

354
00:36:03,250 --> 00:36:13,364
There were only two bills this year that had anything to do with personal care homes, and
they died in committee before we could even get in to see if there was a way that we could

355
00:36:13,364 --> 00:36:15,175
piggyback onto that.

356
00:36:16,475 --> 00:36:21,665
So we are going to keep fighting the fight against these unlicensed care homes.

357
00:36:21,665 --> 00:36:27,070
I mean, these are these are things that often end in tragic endings.

358
00:36:27,070 --> 00:36:36,754
mean, we have personal unlicensed personal care homes that people have died because they
weren't appropriately, you know, set up for safety precautions.

359
00:36:36,754 --> 00:36:38,876
So we had one here in the Jackson area.

360
00:36:38,876 --> 00:36:45,738
Two individuals died because there was a fire and there were no proper fire precautions
because they were not properly licensed.

361
00:36:46,389 --> 00:36:53,982
had individuals die from, you know, being in inclement weather too long.

362
00:36:53,982 --> 00:37:00,424
I mean, these are just third world conditions that these individuals are forced to live in
because they have no other option.

363
00:37:00,424 --> 00:37:13,109
And they're paying, they're paying these operators rent and the operators are keeping the
rent money and not providing appropriate resources and conditions.

364
00:37:13,274 --> 00:37:16,007
Do they get Medicaid support?

365
00:37:17,270 --> 00:37:18,350
They don't.

366
00:37:18,732 --> 00:37:21,234
And they don't have a certificate of need.

367
00:37:22,077 --> 00:37:25,120
And the law requires them to have a certificate of need.

368
00:37:25,483 --> 00:37:28,105
Yes, and the law requires them to have a license as well.

369
00:37:28,105 --> 00:37:33,255
be safe to say that Attorney General Finch is not doing her job.

370
00:37:34,557 --> 00:37:35,599
shocker.

371
00:37:36,305 --> 00:37:37,647
You would be correct.

372
00:37:40,123 --> 00:37:41,325
You know that's...

373
00:37:41,569 --> 00:37:42,771
I hate to...

374
00:37:44,740 --> 00:37:49,052
bring up Musk, because I really don't like Mr.

375
00:37:49,052 --> 00:37:50,002
Musk.

376
00:37:50,222 --> 00:37:59,106
But you know, the public is tired of government agents not doing their job.

377
00:37:59,667 --> 00:38:12,142
And here we have a good instance of where our oldest citizens, most of them critically, or
not critically ill, but have severe problems.

378
00:38:12,940 --> 00:38:15,481
are not being properly taken care of.

379
00:38:17,164 --> 00:38:22,198
And Attorney General Finch sits by and watches it happen.

380
00:38:23,751 --> 00:38:36,500
And the most severe cases that we've come across, we've reported it to the AG's office and
requested their assistance because they have a larger level of law enforcement than we do.

381
00:38:37,122 --> 00:38:39,044
And we've gotten no response.

382
00:38:39,610 --> 00:38:44,322
Can't they just hire an outside attorney like they do so many things and farm it out?

383
00:38:45,463 --> 00:38:48,695
You would think.

384
00:38:48,695 --> 00:38:51,467
But we don't even get a response anymore.

385
00:38:53,843 --> 00:39:06,699
So we've asked the legislature to amend the regulations so that whether it's the AG or the
Department of Health, that there's some kind of teeth, some kind of enforcement that is

386
00:39:06,699 --> 00:39:11,671
punitive toward these unlicensed operators so that it stops them from opening homes.

387
00:39:11,671 --> 00:39:19,685
Because the problem is with what I'm doing, I'll file lawsuit, I'll get an injunction,
I'll shut down John Doe on Easy Street.

388
00:39:19,685 --> 00:39:23,777
Well, he'll just go over and open something up on Martin.

389
00:39:23,777 --> 00:39:24,938
Luther King Boulevard, right?

390
00:39:24,938 --> 00:39:28,810
Like he's just gonna move his home and then I gotta see that home.

391
00:39:28,810 --> 00:39:33,453
So I'm just, I am a bandaid on a bullet wound at this point.

392
00:39:33,453 --> 00:39:40,958
Like we've got, we don't have law enforcement or anything punitive that I can put on them
that would stop it forever, right?

393
00:39:40,958 --> 00:39:50,225
Like there needs to be some type of criminal charge or criminal remedy for these people
who are operating these homes without license.

394
00:39:50,225 --> 00:39:51,866
And there's just nothing there.

395
00:39:51,866 --> 00:39:53,649
And you know, I don't know, maybe that's why the

396
00:39:53,649 --> 00:39:57,622
AG's not handling it because there's nothing that is in the regs for her to do.

397
00:39:57,622 --> 00:40:05,168
But I can tell you that if her office investigated the ones we sent to her, criminal
activity would have been found.

398
00:40:05,168 --> 00:40:16,557
Because when we get an inkling that something's happening, whether it be drugs, human
trafficking, which is her favorite buzzword, or anything that we believe is suspicious, we

399
00:40:16,557 --> 00:40:19,519
send it to the AG's office because that's above our pay grade.

400
00:40:19,519 --> 00:40:22,321
We need law enforcement at that point.

401
00:40:22,877 --> 00:40:25,988
and we're just not getting, we're not getting responses.

402
00:40:25,988 --> 00:40:28,196
David, we need to follow up on this.

403
00:40:28,378 --> 00:40:29,358
Gotcha.

404
00:40:29,459 --> 00:40:33,863
This is just tragic.

405
00:40:33,863 --> 00:40:41,810
And I went to your website earlier, and I did print out a couple of your reports.

406
00:40:41,810 --> 00:40:52,949
And I would encourage and invite people to go to the website, drms.com.org.ms.

407
00:40:52,949 --> 00:40:53,719
OK.

408
00:40:53,993 --> 00:40:55,180
.ms

409
00:40:57,978 --> 00:41:01,744
DRMS.MS

410
00:41:01,744 --> 00:41:04,059
just Google Disability Rights Mississippi.

411
00:41:04,059 --> 00:41:05,894
It'll take you right to us.

412
00:41:05,894 --> 00:41:06,905
Perfect, perfectly.

413
00:41:06,905 --> 00:41:10,201
And please, what?

414
00:41:10,201 --> 00:41:11,321
No, I'm kidding.

415
00:41:15,528 --> 00:41:19,588
I pulled out the unlicensed personal care homes.

416
00:41:19,588 --> 00:41:21,649
and I would invite everyone to look at that.

417
00:41:21,649 --> 00:41:32,084
I pulled out the one about, and we haven't had a chance to get into this, about Medicaid.

418
00:41:32,185 --> 00:41:35,987
So I will ask you a quick question, but I do want to go back to this.

419
00:41:35,987 --> 00:41:49,374
Go to the website, look at the education support guide, look at the executive summary for
the, this is the Mississippi prisons.

420
00:41:49,846 --> 00:41:53,718
As well as we just talked about the unlicensed personal care home.

421
00:41:53,718 --> 00:42:07,593
So please go to that website get that information Now one last question and because we do
want to talk about Medicaid How does that affect people with disability rights or people

422
00:42:07,593 --> 00:42:18,578
with disability and what would the expansion of Medicaid which Tate Reeves said will never
happen

423
00:42:20,035 --> 00:42:31,222
How would expanding the Medicaid, taking those federal dollars, affect Mississippians, and
especially Mississippians with disabilities?

424
00:42:32,275 --> 00:42:45,899
Well, you know, people with disabilities are probably, you know, I don't have the data
behind this, but I think it's safe to say one of, if not the most reliant population on

425
00:42:45,899 --> 00:42:48,441
Medicaid services, period.

426
00:42:49,963 --> 00:42:53,246
I don't think I have to Google too hard to find that to be true.

427
00:42:53,246 --> 00:42:55,668
And the fact that...

428
00:42:56,361 --> 00:43:07,007
despite other states showing the success and expansion of Medicaid to open up services and
to make services more available to their populations.

429
00:43:07,227 --> 00:43:09,868
I mean, the fact that we can't get this done is...

430
00:43:10,645 --> 00:43:12,785
It's insane.

431
00:43:13,445 --> 00:43:22,245
As we sit here today, you've got Medicaid waivers and Medicaid services that people are on
a list that are decades long.

432
00:43:22,245 --> 00:43:28,245
And there's nothing we can do about that because the Fifth Circuit has said that waiting
lists are constitutional.

433
00:43:28,245 --> 00:43:31,525
But some of these people will die waiting on services.

434
00:43:31,805 --> 00:43:40,599
And we have a governor that with a stroke of his pen could have expanded our services to
allow for some of these

435
00:43:40,599 --> 00:43:42,631
fighting lists to be resolved.

436
00:43:42,631 --> 00:43:45,572
And that's what essentially expansion would do.

437
00:43:45,572 --> 00:43:47,563
It would open up more providers.

438
00:43:47,563 --> 00:43:49,504
would open up more services.

439
00:43:49,584 --> 00:43:53,276
Waiting lists would be probably still present, but much shorter.

440
00:43:53,276 --> 00:44:02,690
We wouldn't have people waiting years and years and years to get their family members in
for these services that are vital to them living.

441
00:44:02,690 --> 00:44:10,574
I mean, this is to me, I feel when I'm talking about Medicaid expansion to people, it
just, I feel like I'm an idiot.

442
00:44:10,574 --> 00:44:12,585
I'm like, what am I, what are y'all not?

443
00:44:12,585 --> 00:44:13,105
getting.

444
00:44:13,105 --> 00:44:26,496
Like this is, I mean these are, you know, but to us that's one of the biggest, I mean
there's lots of benefits to expanding Medicaid, but one of the biggest ones we will see is

445
00:44:26,496 --> 00:44:30,028
how it will open up and serve more people.

446
00:44:30,028 --> 00:44:34,232
And we have people waiting on services right now that they will not get them in their
lifetime.

447
00:44:34,232 --> 00:44:36,233
They will die waiting on services.

448
00:44:36,322 --> 00:44:48,107
I think an awful lot of people in the state of Mississippi, and for that matter around the
country, do not understand what the qualifications are to get Medicaid.

449
00:44:50,896 --> 00:44:57,436
and they think that it's wealthy people, people that are making $100,000 a year, et
cetera.

450
00:44:57,556 --> 00:44:59,176
Would you care to?

451
00:45:01,028 --> 00:45:13,277
Talk about how you have to be qualified, salary wise, et cetera, to be eligible to get
Medicaid, because it doesn't fit everybody.

452
00:45:13,277 --> 00:45:14,378
No, it doesn't.

453
00:45:14,378 --> 00:45:23,402
And truly, it depends on what services you're gonna utilize and what programs you're
applying for.

454
00:45:23,402 --> 00:45:29,871
But generally, you're not talking about your six figure individual.

455
00:45:29,871 --> 00:45:40,940
I mean, you're talking about people who are making minimum wage, making a base level
salary that require these services and that are only the ones that are eligible for these

456
00:45:40,940 --> 00:45:41,410
services.

457
00:45:41,410 --> 00:45:43,503
These are not people who

458
00:45:43,503 --> 00:45:48,284
are able to pay for health care in any other way.

459
00:45:49,044 --> 00:46:04,343
We serve, our population, we serve represents about 62 % of those who live below poverty
in Mississippi, and we serve almost 100 % people who are eligible for Medicaid.

460
00:46:04,343 --> 00:46:09,699
I mean, I don't have the numbers, but that should give you a...

461
00:46:09,699 --> 00:46:11,989
have and still be eligible for Medicaid?

462
00:46:11,989 --> 00:46:16,249
I believe it's 45,000.

463
00:46:16,249 --> 00:46:17,129
I believe.

464
00:46:17,129 --> 00:46:18,289
Don't quote me on that.

465
00:46:18,289 --> 00:46:22,503
Because we do not work with...

466
00:46:22,503 --> 00:46:23,293
eligibility.

467
00:46:23,293 --> 00:46:24,994
So we don't help people get on Medicaid.

468
00:46:24,994 --> 00:46:26,995
We help them when they're denied.

469
00:46:26,995 --> 00:46:29,537
So we don't help with that process.

470
00:46:29,537 --> 00:46:42,804
So I'm not as familiar with the I just know that our client base are mostly all Medicaid
recipients are at least eligible for Medicaid and that we serve most people who about 62 %

471
00:46:42,804 --> 00:46:45,545
are below the poverty level in Mississippi.

472
00:46:46,357 --> 00:46:57,097
So to me, when I put that data together, I'm looking at a home of somebody making anywhere
from 20 to $35,000 a year total.

473
00:46:59,305 --> 00:47:07,168
that's, you know, we're not looking at people who are rich and able to get health care in
other places.

474
00:47:07,669 --> 00:47:11,391
But that is something for people that are listening.

475
00:47:11,391 --> 00:47:17,654
While we don't assist with people getting on Medicaid services, where we come in is if you
are denied.

476
00:47:17,654 --> 00:47:25,947
And then we have a team that will assist you in your appeal and making sure that you do
qualify for the services that you are applying for.

477
00:47:25,947 --> 00:47:29,279
Because it is different depending on what waiver or what

478
00:47:29,279 --> 00:47:32,176
services you're looking for Medicaid to pay for.

479
00:47:33,707 --> 00:47:38,970
And all of this information is available on your website.

480
00:47:40,151 --> 00:47:44,354
Jim, you got anything else to add?

481
00:47:45,390 --> 00:47:51,864
I've got lots of questions, but we don't have lots of time.

482
00:47:52,005 --> 00:47:53,886
I'd love to have you back.

483
00:47:55,147 --> 00:48:03,583
There's a lot of things we could continue to discuss that only would be improvements in
Mississippi.

484
00:48:03,583 --> 00:48:08,997
In fact, some days I think anything might be an improvement in Mississippi.

485
00:48:10,918 --> 00:48:13,380
I feel like Faulkner a lot of times.

486
00:48:13,474 --> 00:48:18,357
If you don't understand Mississippi, you will never understand the world.

487
00:48:18,357 --> 00:48:24,872
yeah, a lot of it starts here and spreads.

488
00:48:26,810 --> 00:48:29,774
Greta, what can we do for you?

489
00:48:29,774 --> 00:48:34,280
What can we do for Disability Rights Mississippi?

490
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:37,363
Any last questions or comments?

491
00:48:37,924 --> 00:48:39,405
What can we do for you?

492
00:48:39,635 --> 00:48:40,956
Well, right now.

493
00:48:41,587 --> 00:48:54,963
You gentlemen or anybody listening, there is a major bill going through Congress, US
Congress right now to cut Medicaid about $880 billion.

494
00:48:54,963 --> 00:48:59,325
That would be about a $9 billion cut to Mississippi and that's without expansion.

495
00:48:59,325 --> 00:49:11,473
So we are encouraging everyone to call our Congress people and have, know, for whatever
it's worth to vote against this cut because we need every Medicaid dollar we can get and

496
00:49:11,473 --> 00:49:16,309
and a cut would be devastating for Mississippi even without expansion.

497
00:49:16,309 --> 00:49:25,979
that's been our big ticket item today is we've asked everyone we know to call and over the
next few days and have them vote against that budget bill.

498
00:49:25,979 --> 00:49:27,310
So, yeah.

499
00:49:27,310 --> 00:49:27,811
for that.

500
00:49:27,811 --> 00:49:36,476
And please go to drms.ms for more information and to learn about how you can get involved.

501
00:49:36,756 --> 00:49:46,261
Also, if you have any questions, comments, things that you'd like to see us talk about,
please send me an email at mshappening1.

502
00:49:47,142 --> 00:49:48,642
at gmail.com.

503
00:49:48,642 --> 00:49:56,282
That's mshappenings1@gmail.com We would love to hear from you.

504
00:49:56,622 --> 00:49:57,922
We appreciate all of you.

505
00:49:57,922 --> 00:49:59,362
We appreciate our sponsors.

506
00:49:59,362 --> 00:50:03,502
Greta, it's great to see you again and talk to you.

507
00:50:03,502 --> 00:50:07,462
And also, we do want to lastly share this with you.

508
00:50:07,462 --> 00:50:14,642
And this ties into everything that we're trying to do with the broadcast and also getting
with Greta here.

509
00:50:14,702 --> 00:50:17,496
May we never become indifferent.

510
00:50:17,496 --> 00:50:19,318
to the suffering of others.