H. B. No. 451: Flood and drainage control districts; extend repealer for one year.

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 51-35-305, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXTEND THE DATE OF REPEAL FROM JULY 1, 2001, TO JULY 1, 2006, ON THE AUTHORITY TO ORGANIZE FLOOD AND DRAINAGE CONTROL DISTRICTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 51-35-305, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

51-33-305. (1) Flood and drainage control districts may now or hereafter be organized in this state under the provisions of this article, in the manner hereinafter provided, whenever any part of such district lies wholly or partially in or adjacent to any part of a municipality having a population of ten thousand (10,000) or more inhabitants at the time of the filing of the petition to create such district. For the purposes of determining population of any municipality, the last completed census prior to the filing of such petition shall be presumed to be the population of such municipality at the time of the filing of such petition. Each flood and drainage control district shall be an agency of the state and a body politic and corporate, and may be composed of one or more entire municipalities or a part or parts thereof, one or more entire counties or a part or parts thereof, or any combination of counties and municipalities or a part or parts thereof.

(2) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2006.

SECTION 2. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.