MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Judiciary B; Appropriations

By: Representative Blackmon

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO COMPILE ALL CRIMINAL STATUTES INTO SEPARATE VOLUMES TO BE KNOWN AS THE MISSISSIPPI PENAL CODE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 1-1-55 AND 1-1-57, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

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

SECTION 1. The Secretary of State is hereby directed to compile all criminal statutes, probation and parole statutes, criminal procedure statutes and any other statutes dealing with criminal law into separate volumes from the current volumes of the Mississippi Code of 1972 and to provide supplements thereto. The volumes so compiled shall be known as the Mississippi Penal Code. Such volumes shall be made available on a cost basis to all courts, court clerks, members of the Mississippi Bar, the state or any agency or political subdivision thereof, any state supported institution of higher learning and to the public. The cost assessed for the Mississippi Penal Code shall be sufficient to cover all costs of producing and distributing the Mississippi Penal Code.

SECTION 2. Section 1-1-55, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

1-1-55. Upon the approval and acceptance of said manuscript by the Attorney General, the same shall be printed in insertable pocket supplement form or replacement bound volume or volumes where necessary, containing appropriate chapters, titles and subdivisions of titles in the same arrangement as now appears in the Mississippi Code of 1972. The Secretary of State shall provide supplements to the Mississippi Penal Code as provided in Section 1 of this act. The provisions of this section shall stand repealed on July 1, 1998.

SECTION 3. Section 1-1-57, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

1-1-57. The Joint Committee on Compilation, Revision and Publication of Legislation is hereby authorized to purchase such numbers of sets of the pocket part supplements and the replacement volumes, including index replacement volumes, as may be required to maintain in a current status the sets of the Code of 1972 authorized to be furnished under the provisions of Section 1-1-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, and the Secretary of State shall distribute the same to the proper parties. In furtherance of the State Library's reciprocal program of code exchange with libraries of the several states the Secretary of State shall, at the direction and only upon the written request of the State Librarian, make distribution to such libraries. The Secretary of State shall compile the Mississippi Penal Code as provided in Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.