MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Insurance

By: Senator(s) White (5th)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 45-11-203, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE UNIFORM MINIMUM TRAINING STANDARDS FOR FIRE FIGHTERS; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 45-11-251 AND 45-11-253, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH ESTABLISH THE FIRE PERSONNEL MINIMUM STANDARDS AND CERTIFICATION BOARD AND PRESCRIBE ITS POWERS AND DUTIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

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

SECTION 1. Section 45-11-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is

amended as follows:

45-11-203. (1) After January 1, 1991, no person shall be

employed as a full-time fire fighter by any local government fire

fighting unit for a period exceeding one (1) year, nor for a

cumulative time exceeding two thousand eight hundred (2,800)

compensated hours, unless that person is certified as completing

the mandatory training requirements in subsection (2). Any state agency or political subdivision that employs a person as a fire fighter who does not meet the requirements of subsection (2) of this section is prohibited from paying the salary of such person, and any person violating this subsection shall be personally liable for making such payment. * * * Fire fighters serving as full-time employees prior to January 1, 1991, in a local fire fighting unit shall not be required to meet the minimum requirements in subsection (2).

(2) The uniform training standards for all paid fire

fighters shall consist of satisfactory completion of a minimum of two hundred (200) training hours of a * * * program administered by the State Fire Academy or local governments that have the proper facilities and have been certified by the State Fire Academy which shall utilize National Fire Protection Association fire service professional qualification standards. The State Fire Academy shall issue an appropriate certificate for completion of the mandatory training.

SECTION 2. Section 45-11-251, Mississippi Code of 1972, which establishes the Mississippi Fire Personnel Minimum Standards and Certification Board, is repealed.

SECTION 3. Section 45-11-253, Mississippi Code of 1972, which prescribes the powers and duties of the Mississippi Fire Personnel Minimum Standards and Certification Board, is repealed.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1998.