MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Representative Endt

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 75-60-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DECREASE THE AMOUNT OF THE SURETY BOND REQUIRED TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE OF REGISTRATION FROM THE COMMISSION ON PROPRIETARY SCHOOL AND COLLEGE REGISTRATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 75-60-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

75-60-17. The application for a certificate of registration shall be accompanied by a surety bond in the penal sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) with conditions and in a form prescribed by the Commission on Proprietary School and College Registration with at least one (1) corporate bonding company approved by the Department of Insurance as surety thereon. The bond shall provide for the indemnification of any person suffering loss as the result of any fraud or misrepresentation used in behalf of the principal in procuring such person's enrollment in a course of instruction, including repayment of tuition paid in advance by any student. The liability of the surety on such bond for the school covered shall not exceed the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) as an aggregate for all students for all breaches of the conditions of the bond by the school. The term of the bond shall be continuous, but it shall be subject to cancellation by the surety in the manner described in this section. The bond shall provide blanket coverage for the acts of all persons engaged as agents of the school without naming them and without regard to the time they are engaged during the term of the bond.

The surety may terminate the bond upon giving a sixty-day written notice to the principal and to the Commission on Proprietary School and College Registration, but the liability of the surety for acts of the principal and its agents shall continue during the sixty (60) days of cancellation notice. The notice does not absolve the surety from liability which accrues before the cancellation becomes final but which is discovered after that date and which may have arisen at any time during the term of the bond. Unless the bond is replaced by that of another surety before the expiration of the sixty (60) days' notice of cancellation, the certificate of registration shall be suspended. Any person subject to this chapter required to file a bond with an application for a certificate of registration may file, in lieu thereof, cash, a certificate of deposit, or government bonds in the amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). Said deposit is subject to the same terms and conditions as are provided for in the surety bond required herein. Any interest or earnings on such deposits are payable to the depositor.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.