MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Fees, Salaries and Administration

By: Senator(s) Burton

Senate Bill 2770

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 25-60-1, 25-60-5 AND 39-5-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE SECRETARY OF STATE, OR HIS DESIGNEE, SHALL BE A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS COMMITTEE; TO PROVIDE FOR A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MISSISSIPPI CITY CLERKS' ASSOCIATION AS A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS COMMITTEE; TO PROVIDE THAT THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS COMMITTEE WILL REVIEW AND APPROVE MUNICIPAL COURT RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULES, AND REVIEW AND APPROVE JUSTICE, COUNTY, CIRCUIT AND CHANCERY COURT RECORDS CONTROL SCHEDULES IN PARTICIPATING COUNTIES WHEN THE SUPREME COURT DESIGNATES THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY AS THE RECORDS MANAGEMENT AGENCY FOR SUCH COURTS; TO PROVIDE THAT MUNICIPALITIES AND PARTICIPATING COUNTIES WHICH COLLECT LESS THAN $300.00 PER MONTH IN DOCUMENT FILING FEES SHALL REMIT SUCH FEES TO THE STATE TREASURER ON A QUARTERLY RATHER THAN MONTHLY BASIS; TO PROVIDE THAT SUCH FILING FEES MAY BE COLLECTED BY MUNICIPALITIES AND PARTICIPATING COUNTIES IN ANY COURT SUBJECT TO THEIR JURISDICTION; TO ELIMINATE THE AUTHORITY OF THE LOCAL RECORDS CONTROL COMMITTEE TO APPROVE RECORDS STORAGE AREA LEASES OF MUNICIPALITIES AND PARTICIPATING COUNTIES AND TO AUTHORIZE THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS OFFICE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR SUCH RECORDS STORAGE AREAS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

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

SECTION 1. Section 25-60-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-60-1. There is hereby created the local Government Records Committee. The committee shall be composed of the following members: the Attorney General, or his designee; the Secretary of State, or his designee; the State Auditor of Public Accounts, or his designee; the Chairman of the State Tax Commission, or his designee; the Director of the State Department of Archives and History, or his designee; a representative from each of the following organizations, to be designated by the head of each organization for a term of two (2) years with a limit of not more than two (2) terms: the Family Research Association of Mississippi, Inc., the Mississippi Association of Supervisors, The Mississippi Bar, the Mississippi Chancery Clerks' Association, the Mississippi Circuit Clerks' Association, the Mississippi City Clerks' Association, the Mississippi Historical Society, the Mississippi Municipal Association, the Mississippi Sheriffs' Association, the Mississippi Superintendents of Education Association, the Mississippi Tax Assessors' Association and the Mississippi Tax Collectors' Association; and one (1) resident of this state appointed by the Governor for a term of two (2) years with a limit of not more than two (2) terms. The Director of the Department of Archives and History shall be chairman of the committee. Members of the committee shall receive per diem as provided in Section 25-3-69, and shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses and travel as provided in Section 25-3-41.

It is the duty of the committee to review, approve, disapprove, amend or modify records control schedules submitted by municipalities, municipal courts and participating counties * * * for the disposition of records based on administrative, legal, fiscal or historical value. When the Mississippi Supreme Court designates the Department of Archives and History as the records management agency for courts, it is the duty of the committee to review, approve, disapprove, amend or modify records control schedules submitted by justice, county, circuit and chancery courts in participating counties. Such records control schedules, once approved, shall be authoritative and directive, and shall have the force and effect of law. * * *

It is the duty of municipalities and participating counties * * * to cooperate with the committee in complying with the provisions of this section. Each municipality and participating county * * * shall establish and maintain an active and continuing program for the management of its records and shall submit to the committee recommended retention schedules for records in its custody.

Any county may, by resolution spread upon the minutes of the board of supervisors, exempt itself from the requirements imposed by this section.

The committee is authorized to promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to implement the authority granted to it in this section.

This section shall be repealed on July 1, 2006.

SECTION 2. Section 25-60-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-60-5. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any county or municipal official or employee who accepts documents for filing as public records shall, in addition to any other fee provided elsewhere by law, collect a fee of One Dollar ($1.00) for each document so filed. In municipalities and participating counties that collect Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) or more per month from the filing fee, the official or employee collecting the fee shall, on or before the last day of each month, deposit the avails of Fifty Cents (504) of the fee into the general fund of the county or municipality, as appropriate, and remit the remainder to the State Treasurer who shall deposit it to the credit of a statewide local government records management fund which is hereby created in the State Treasury. In municipalities and participating counties that collect less than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) per month from the filing fee, the avails of Fifty Cents (504) of the fee shall be remitted to the State Treasurer on a quarterly basis for deposit as provided in the previous sentence. Any monies remaining in such fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the General Fund of the State Treasury. Counties and municipalities shall expend monies derived from the fee hereinabove imposed solely to support proper management of their official records in accordance with records management standards established by the Department of Archives and History. Monies in the Local Government Records Management Fund shall be expended by the Department of Archives and History, pursuant to legislative appropriation, to support the Local Government Records Office of the department and to support a local records management grant program as funds permit.

(2) The fee provided in subsection (1) of this section shall not be collected in any county until the board of supervisors, by resolution spread upon its minutes, determines that it will collect the fee.

(3) Each municipality and participating county may collect the filing fee provided for in this section on filings in any court subject to their respective jurisdiction.

(4) This section shall be repealed on July 1, 2006.

SECTION 3. Section 39-5-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

39-5-9. A Local Government Records Office is established within the Department of Archives and History. The office shall begin operation when sufficient funds therefor have accumulated in the Local Government Records Management Fund established in Section 25-60-5. The office shall have the following powers and duties as well as any others which are prescribed by law elsewhere or assigned to the office by the director of the department:

(a) Provide and/or coordinate education and training for counties and municipalities on records management issues.

(b) Establish records management standards to guide counties and municipalities, such standards to include, but not be limited to, guidelines for microfilm production and storage, electronic records security and migration, records preservation, imaging and records storage.

(c) Prepare records control schedules for adoption or amendment by the Local Government Records Committee established in Section 25-60-1. In the preparation of such schedules and amendments thereto, the office shall seek input from interested citizens and organizations.

(d) Establish standards for records storage areas of local governmental bodies, such standards to include, but not be limited to, guidelines for the selection of an off-site storage facility for records of enduring and/or archival value.

This section shall be repealed on July 1, 2006.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.