MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Public Buildings, Grounds and Lands; Appropriations

By: Representative Brown

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO ACQUIRE BY PURCHASE OR LEASE-PURCHASE, OR BOTH, LAND AND BUILDINGS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSOLIDATING STATE AGENCIES INTO BUILDINGS AT A COMMON LOCATION IF SUCH ACTION WILL BE ECONOMICALLY ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE STATE AND WILL NOT IMPAIR OR IMPEDE THE FUNCTION OF AN AGENCY IN SUCH A LOCATION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 27-104-107, 29-1-1, 29-5-2 AND 31-11-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) The Department of Finance and Administration may enter into purchase contracts or lease-purchase agreements, or both, for the acquisition of land and buildings for the purpose of consolidating state agencies into buildings at a common location. Before entering into any purchase contract or lease-purchase agreement, the department must determine that the purchase contract or lease-purchase agreement will be economically advantageous to the State of Mississippi and that any consolidation of agencies at a common location will not impair or impede the function of an agency in such location. The Department of Finance and Administration may not establish more than one such common location in any one of the districts from which Transportation Commissioners are elected. The Department of Finance and Administration shall not pay an amount more than seventy percent (70%) of the fair market value of the property to be acquired in any such district. The fair market value shall be determined by taking the average of three (3) appraisals, one (1) to be performed by the Department of Finance and Administration, one (1) to be performed by the State Auditor and one to be performed by an appraiser selected by the Department of Finance and Administration.

SECTION 2. Section 27-104-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

27-104-107. (1) As used in this section, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

(a) "Department" means the Department of Finance and Administration.

(b) "Commission" means the State Bond Commission.

(c) "Director" means the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration.

(d) "Committee" means the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

(e) "Office" means the Office of General Services of the Department of Finance and Administration.

(2) In addition to any other authority conferred upon it, and subject to the approval of its proposal by the commission, the department may enter into purchase contracts, lease-purchase agreements, rental agreements or other similar contracts for the ultimate acquisition of real property by the state. Before entering into any purchase contract or lease-purchase agreement, the office must first demonstrate to the Public Procurement Review Board satisfactory evidence that the contract would be economically advantageous to the state and that any consolidation of agencies into buildings at a common location would not impair or impede the function of that agency in this location. The contracts shall be approved by the Public Procurement Review Board and the State Bond Commission.

(3) Acquisitions shall be made only with legislative approval and be in accordance with a long-range development plan which the department shall annually prepare and present to the Legislature as a part of the Governor's capitol budget recommendation; however, if in the opinion of the Department of Finance and Administration circumstances involving a proposed acquisition are such that waiting for legislative approval will not be economically advantageous to the state or may cause the state financial loss, then such acquisition may be made upon approval by the State Bond Commission after consultation with the Chairman of the Public Property Committee of the Senate and the Chairman of the Public Buildings, Grounds and Lands Committee of the House of Representatives. Acquisition of lands and buildings shall be based upon appraisals approved by the Department of Finance and Administration. The office shall not pay an amount in excess of the appraised value of the land and buildings to be acquired. The amount paid on purchases or lease-purchases made under Section 1 of House Bill No. 1319, 1999 Regular Session, will be subject to the limitations of such section. Except as otherwise provided in Section 1 of House Bill No. 1319, 1999 Regular Session, the appraised value shall be determined by taking the average of two (2) appraisals performed by two (2) appraisers, one (1) to be selected by the Department of Finance and Administration and one (1) to be selected by the Department of Audit. Further, the office shall file quarterly reports describing this process and its progress with the Chairman of the Senate Public Property Committee and the Chairman of the House Public Buildings, Grounds and Lands Committee.

(4) With the exception of the Public Employees' Retirement System, whenever any contract or agreement entered into is for and on behalf of the State of Mississippi, title to property, when acquired, shall vest in the State of Mississippi and not in the name of any state agency. Any building subject to a lease purchase agreement with the state shall be considered a state-owned building and therefore exempt from the assessment and levy of ad valorem taxes.

(5) All contracts executed under this section shall include provisions whereby the obligation of the state for any payment in excess of reasonable rental of the property while actually occupying the property is dependent upon the availability of appropriated funds for the purchase of the property.

(6) Activity under this section shall be reported annually in a detailed resolution from the commission to the committee.

(7) All funds allocated to rents and chargeable by the department shall be paid into a special fund hereby created in the State Treasury. Unexpended amounts remaining in the special fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned on amounts in the special fund shall be deposited to the credit of the special fund. This fund shall be used by the department (a) to retire indebtedness incurred in the acquisition of properties under this section; (b) to renovate, maintain and otherwise protect subject properties; (c) to pay the cost of utilities necessary to operate the buildings; and (d) to acquire properties in accordance with this section.

SECTION 3. Section 29-1-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

29-1-1. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7) and subsection (8) of this section, the title to all lands held by any agency of the State of Mississippi which were acquired solely by the use of funds appropriated by the state shall appear on all deeds and land records under the name of the "State of Mississippi." For the purpose of this section, the term "agency" shall be defined as set forth in Section 31-7-1(a). The provisions of this section shall not affect the authority of any agency to use any land held by the agency. No assets or property of the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi shall be transferred in violation of Section 272A of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890. Before September 1, 1993, each state agency shall inventory any state-held lands which were acquired solely by the use of funds appropriated by the state, and which are titled in the name of the agency. The agency shall execute quitclaim deeds and any other necessary documents to transfer the name and title of the property to the State of Mississippi.

(2) The Secretary of State, under the general direction of the Governor and as authorized by law, shall sell and convey the public lands in the manner and on the terms provided herein for the several classes thereof; he shall perform all the administrative and executive duties appertaining to the selection, location, surveying, platting, listing, and registering these lands or otherwise concerning them; and he shall investigate the status of the various "per cent" funds accrued and accruing to the state from the sale of lands by the United States, and shall collect and pay the funds into the treasury in the manner provided by law.

(3) In accordance with Sections 7-11-11 and 7-11-13, the Secretary of State shall be required to sign all conveyances of all state-held land. For purposes of this section, the term "conveyance" shall mean any sale or purchase of land by the State of Mississippi for use by any agency, board or commission thereof. Failure to obtain legislative approval pursuant to subsection (4) of this section and the signature of the Secretary of State on any conveyance regarding the sale or purchase of lands for the state including any agency, board or commission thereof, shall render the attempted sale or purchase of the lands void. Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize any state agency, board, commission or public official to convey any state-held land unless this authority is otherwise granted by law. The Secretary of State shall not withhold arbitrarily his signature from any purchase or sale authorized by the Mississippi State Legislature. All sales of state-held lands, except those lands forfeited to the state for the nonpayment of taxes and those lands acquired by the Mississippi Transportation Commission under Section 65-1-123, shall be sold for not less than the fair market value as determined by two (2) professional appraisers selected by the State Department of Finance and Administration, who are certified general appraisers of the State of Mississippi. The proceeds from any sale by an agency, board, commission or public official of state-held lands shall be deposited into the State General Fund unless otherwise provided by law.

(4) Before any state-held land is sold to any individual or private entity, thirty (30) days' advance notice of the intended sale shall be provided by the Secretary of State to the state Legislature, to all state agencies and to all governing authorities within the state for the purpose of ascertaining whether an agency or governing authority has a need for the land and for the purpose of ascertaining whether the sale of the land was authorized by law. If no agency or governing authority within the state expresses in writing to the Secretary of State by the end of the thirty-day period a desire to use the land, then the Secretary of State, with the prior approval of the Mississippi Legislature to sell the state-held land, may offer the land for sale to any individual or private entity.

(5) A cultural resources survey may be performed on any state-held land before the disposition of the land if the State Department of Archives and History deems this survey necessary. The cost of the survey and any archaeological studies deemed necessary by the State Department of Archives and History shall be paid by the selling agency and recouped from the proceeds of the sale.

(6) Before any land may be purchased by the state for the benefit of any state agency, the Secretary of State, or his designee, shall search and examine all state land records to determine whether the state owns any land that may fit the particular need of the agency. The Secretary of State, or his designee, shall notify the agency if it is determined that any state-held land is available for use by the agency. The agency shall determine if such land accommodates its needs and shall determine whether to make an official request to the proper authorities to have the use of the land.

(7) Any lands purchased or acquired for construction and maintenance of highways or highway rights-of-way by the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall be excluded from the provisions of this section.

(8) This section shall not apply to any agency of the State of Mississippi that holds title to lands purchased solely by the use of federal funds or whose authority to transfer or dispose of these lands is governed by federal law or federal regulations.

(9) The Secretary of State may recover from any agency, corporation, board, commission, entity or individual any cost that is incurred by his office for the record-keeping responsibilities regarding the sale or purchase of any state-held lands.

(10) Subsections (3), (4), (5) and (6) of this section shall not apply to sales or purchases of land when the Legislature expressly authorizes or directs a state agency to sell, purchase or lease-purchase a specifically described property.

(11) Subsections (3), (4), (5) and (6) of this section shall not apply to purchases or lease-purchases authorized in Section 1 of House Bill No. 1319, 1999 Regular Session.

SECTION 4. Section 29-5-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

29-5-2. The duties of the Office of General Services of the Department of Finance and Administration shall be as follows:

(a) (i) To exercise general supervision and care over and keep in good condition the following state property located in the City of Jackson: the New State Capitol Building, the Woolfolk State Office Building, the Carroll Gartin Justice Building, the Walter Sillers Office Building, the War Veterans' Memorial Building, the State Archives Building, the Department of Archives and History Depot Building, the Ike Sanford Veterans Affairs Building, the Old State Capitol Building, the Governor's Mansion, the Heber Ladner Building, the Burroughs Building, the Robert E. Lee Office Building, the Robert E. Lee Parking Garage, the Manship House Restoration and Visitor Center, the State Records Center, the 301 Lamar Street Building, and all other properties acquired in the same transaction at the time of the purchase of the Robert E. Lee Hotel property from the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Jackson, Mississippi, which properties are more particularly described in a warranty deed heretofore executed and delivered on April 22, 1969, and filed for record in the office of the Chancery Clerk of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi, located in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 25, 1969, at 9:00 a.m., and recorded in Deed Book No. 1822, page 136 et seq., and the Central High Building and 101 Capitol Centre.

(ii) To exercise general supervision and care over and keep in good condition the Dr. Eldon Langston Bolton Building located in Biloxi, Mississippi.

(iii) To exercise general supervision and care over and keep in good condition the State Service Center, located at the intersection of State Highway 49 and John Merl Tatum Industrial Drive in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

(b) To assign suitable office space for the various state departments, officers and employees who are provided with an office in any of the buildings under the jurisdiction or control of the Office of General Services. However, the assignment of space in the New Capitol Building shall be designated by duly passed resolution of the combined Senate Rules Committee and the House Management Committee, meeting as a joint committee, approved by the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House of Representatives. A majority vote of the members of the Senate Rules Committee and a majority vote of the members of the House Management Committee shall be required on all actions taken, resolutions or reports adopted, and all other matters considered by the full combined committee on occasions when the Senate Rules Committee and the House Management Committee shall meet as a full combined committee.

(c) To approve or disapprove through the Division of Real Property Management, and with the concurrence of the Public Procurement Review Board, any lease or rental agreements by any state agency or department, including any state agency financed entirely by federal and special funds, for space outside the buildings under the jurisdiction of the Office of General Services. In no event shall any employee, officer, department, federally funded agency or bureau of the state be authorized to enter a lease or rental agreement without prior approval of the Office of General Services and the Public Procurement Review Board.

The Office of General Services is authorized to use architects, engineers, building inspectors and other personnel for the purpose of making inspections as may be deemed necessary in carrying out its duties and maintaining the facilities.

(d) To acquire by lease, lease-purchase agreement, or otherwise, as provided in Section 27-104-107 or Section 1 of House Bill No. 1319, 1999 Regular Session, or both, and to assign through the Office of General Services, by lease or sublease agreement from the office, and with the concurrence of the Public Procurement Review Board, to any state agency or department, including any state agency financed entirely by federal and special funds, appropriate office space in the buildings acquired.

SECTION 5. Section 31-11-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

31-11-3. (1) The Department of Finance and Administration, for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, in addition to all other rights and powers granted by law, shall have full power and authority to employ and compensate architects or other employees necessary for the purpose of making inspections, preparing plans and specifications, supervising the erection of any buildings, and making any repairs or additions as may be determined by the Department of Finance and Administration to be necessary, pursuant to the rules and regulations of the State Personnel Board. The department shall have entire control and supervision of, and determine what, if any, buildings, additions, repairs or improvements are to be made under the provisions of this chapter, subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Review Board.

(2) The department shall have full power to erect buildings, make repairs, additions or improvements, and buy materials, supplies and equipment for any of the institutions or departments of the state subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Review Board. In addition to other powers conferred, the department shall have full power and authority as directed by the Legislature, or when funds have been appropriated for its use for these purposes, to:

(a) Build a state office building;

(b) Build suitable plants or buildings for the use and housing of any state schools or institutions, including the building of plants or buildings for new state schools or institutions, as provided for by the Legislature;

(c) Provide state aid for the construction of school buildings;

(d) Promote and develop the training of returned veterans of the United States in all sorts of educational and vocational learning to be supplied by the proper educational institution of the State of Mississippi, and in so doing allocate monies appropriated to it for these purposes to the Governor for use by him in setting up, maintaining and operating an office and employing a state director of on-the-job training for veterans and the personnel necessary in carrying out Public Law No. 346 of the United States;

(e) Build and equip a hospital and administration building at the Mississippi State Penitentiary;

(f) Build and equip additional buildings and wards at the Boswell Retardation Center;

(g) Construct a sewage disposal and treatment plant at the state insane hospital, and in so doing acquire additional land as may be necessary, and to exercise the right of eminent domain in the acquisition of this land;

(h) Build and equip the Mississippi central market and purchase or acquire by eminent domain, if necessary, any lands needed for this purpose;

(i) Build and equip suitable facilities for a training and employing center for the blind;

(j) Build and equip a gymnasium at Columbia Training School;

(k) Approve or disapprove the expenditure of any money appropriated by the Legislature when authorized by the bill making the appropriation;

(l) Expend monies appropriated to it in paying the state's part of the cost of any street paving;

(m) Sell and convey state lands when authorized by the Legislature, cause said lands to be properly surveyed and platted, execute all deeds or other legal instruments, and do any and all other things required to effectively carry out the purpose and intent of the Legislature. Any transaction which involves state lands under the provisions of this paragraph shall be done in a manner consistent with the provisions of Section 29-1-1;

(n) Collect and receive from educational institutions of the State of Mississippi monies required to be paid by these institutions to the state in carrying out any veterans' educational programs; and

(o) Purchase lands for building sites, or as additions to building sites, for the erection of buildings and other facilities which the department is authorized to erect, and demolish and dispose of old buildings, when necessary for the proper construction of new buildings. Any transaction which involves state lands under the provisions of this paragraph shall be done in a manner consistent with the provisions of Section 29-1-1.

(3) The department shall survey state-owned and state-utilized buildings to establish an estimate of the costs of architectural alterations, pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 USCS Section 12111 et seq. The department shall establish priorities for making the identified architectural alterations and shall make known to the Legislative Budget Office and to the Legislature the required cost to effectuate such alterations. To meet the requirements of this section, the department shall use standards of accessibility that are at least as stringent as any applicable federal requirements and may consider:

(a) Federal minimum guidelines and requirements issued by the United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board and standards issued by other federal agencies;

(b) The criteria contained in the American Standard Specifications for Making Buildings Accessible and Usable by the Physically Handicapped and any amendments thereto as approved by the American Standards Association, Incorporated (ANSI Standards);

(c) Design manuals;

(d) Applicable federal guidelines;

(e) Current literature in the field;

(f) Applicable safety standards; and

(g) Any applicable environmental impact statements.

(4) The department shall observe the provisions of Section 31-5-23, in letting contracts and shall use Mississippi products, including paint, varnish and lacquer which contain as vehicles tung oil and either ester gum or modified resin (with rosin as the principal base of constituents), and turpentine shall be used as a solvent or thinner, where these products are available at a cost not to exceed the cost of products grown, produced, prepared, made or manufactured outside of the State of Mississippi.

(5) The department shall have authority to accept grants, loans or donations from the United States Government or from any other sources for the purpose of matching funds in carrying out the provisions of this chapter.

(6) The department shall build a wheelchair ramp at the War Memorial Building which complies with all applicable federal laws, regulations and specifications regarding wheelchair ramps.

(7) The department shall review and preapprove all architectural or engineering service contracts entered into by any state agency, institution, commission, board or authority regardless of the source of funding used to defray the costs of the construction or renovation project for which services are to be obtained. The provisions of this subsection (7) shall not apply to any architectural or engineering contract paid for by self-generated funds of any of the state institutions of higher learning, nor shall they apply to community college projects that are funded from local funds or other nonstate sources which are outside the Department of Finance and Administration's appropriations or as directed by the Legislature. The provisions of this subsection (7) shall not apply to any construction or design projects of the State Military Department that are funded from federal funds or other nonstate sources.

(8) The department shall have the authority to obtain annually from the state institutions of higher learning information on all building, construction and renovation projects including duties, responsibilities and costs of any architect or engineer hired by any such institutions.

(9) Contracts let or approved by the State Prison Emergency Construction and Management Board when it exercises its emergency powers to remove two thousand (2,000) inmates from county jails are exempt from this section; however, this exemption does not apply to contracts for the construction of private correctional facilities and additional facilities at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution and the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility. This subsection shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 1996.

(10) To acquire by purchase or lease-purchase, or both, land and buildings under Section 1 of House Bill No. 1319, 1999 Regular Session, for the purpose of consolidating state agencies into buildings at a common location.

SECTION 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.