MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Education

By: Senator(s) Cuevas

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 37-29-31 AND 37-29-409, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE HANCOCK COUNTY FROM THE PEARL RIVER COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT AND ADD HANCOCK COUNTY TO THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

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

SECTION 1. Section 37-29-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-29-31. There are hereby created the following junior college districts comprising the entire counties therein named and having boundaries coinciding with the external boundaries thereof, each of which shall be separate juristic entities and bodies politic and corporate:

(a) East Central Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott and Winston.

(b) East Mississippi Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Clay, Kemper, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha.

(c) Hinds Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Hinds, Rankin, Warren and Claiborne.

(d) Holmes Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Holmes, Madison, Montgomery, Webster and Yazoo.

(e) Itawamba Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe and Pontotoc.

(f) Jones County Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Clarke, Covington, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Perry, Smith and Wayne.

(g) Mississippi Delta Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Bolivar, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Sharkey, Sunflower and Washington.

(h) Northeast Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Alcorn, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo and Union.

(i) Northwest Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Benton, Calhoun, DeSoto, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica and Yalobusha.

(j) Pearl River Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Forrest, * * * Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Marion and Pearl River.

(k) Southwest Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Amite, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson.

SECTION 2. Section 37-29-409, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-29-409. The operation and control of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College District and the college or colleges operated therein shall be vested in a board of trustees representing each of the five (5) counties lying within the district. The board of trustees shall consist of twenty-five (25) members. Of the said number Harrison County shall be entitled to eight (8) members, Stone County shall be entitled to three (3) members, George County shall be entitled to three (3) members, Jackson County shall be entitled to eight (8) members and Hancock County shall be entitled to two (2) members. In no event in the future shall any of the counties have more than the number hereinabove established. The members of the board of trustees from each county shall be elected by the board of supervisors of the county. Except as hereinafter specified the term of office of each trustee shall be five (5) years. The members of the board of trustees serving on July 1, 1989, shall continue to serve until their terms expire. All shall be appointed for a term of five (5) years each. There shall be one (1) additional member of the board who shall be selected by the members of the board of trustees who shall reside alternatively in Jackson and Harrison Counties, with the initial appointment to be made from Jackson County for a term of five (5) years.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1998.