Not Germane

AMENDMENT NO 1 PROPOSED TO

House Bill No.  605

BY: Representative Frierson

     AMEND by striking Section 2 and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

     "SECTION 2.  (1)  In all municipal separate school districts, there shall be an election held on the question of whether school board members shall be elected or appointed.  The date of the election shall be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2006.  The governing authorities of the municipality shall publish notice of the election once each week for at least three (3) consecutive weeks before the date of the election in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the municipality, with the first publication of the notice to be made not less than twenty-one (21) days before the date of the election and the last publication to be made not more than seven (7) days before the date of the election.  At the election, all qualified electors residing in the municipal separate school district may vote, and the ballots used in the election shall have printed thereon a brief state of the purpose of the election and the words "FOR THE ELECTION OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS" and, on a separate line, "FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS" and the voters shall vote by placing a cross (X) or check (√) opposite their choice on the proposition.  When the results of the election have been canvassed and certified, if a majority of the qualified electors who voted in the election voted in favor of electing school board members, then the municipality shall hold elections beginning in 2007 to elect the school board members as provided in Section 3 of this act.  If a majority of the qualified electors who voted in the election voted in favor of appointing school board members in the same manner as currently provided in Section 1 of this act.

     SECTION 3.  (1)  In any municipal separate school district that has elected school board members, the school board shall consist of five (5) members who shall be elected from school board member districts in the manner provided in this section.

     (2)  The governing authorities of the municipality shall apportion the municipal separate school district, including any added territory, into five (5) single school board member districts.  Each district shall be designated by a number one (1) through five (5).  The school board member districts must be as nearly equal as possible according to population.  The municipal governing authorities shall submit the school board member district boundaries to the United States Department of Justice for preclearance or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judgment in accordance with the provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.  If the school board member district boundaries in a school district are precleared by the United States Department of Justice or approved by the United States District Court, the municipal governing authorities and the school board of the school district shall place upon their minutes the boundaries established for the five (5) school board member districts, and the school board shall publish the boundaries in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the school district once each week for at least three (3) consecutive weeks.  After having given notice of publication and recording the publication upon the minutes of the school board, the school board member district boundaries shall be effective.  As soon as practicable after the results of the 2010 federal decennial census and every federal decennial census thereafter are published, the municipal governing authorities shall reapportion the school board member districts in the manner prescribed in this subsection for the creation of the original districts.

     (3)  In order to provide for an orderly transition in the membership of each school board from those members elected or appointed to the school board under the laws in effect before the effective date of this act to members elected under the provisions of this act, the following election schedule is established:

          (a)  On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2007, an election shall be held in District 1 for the purpose of electing a member of the school board to succeed the member whose term of office is scheduled to expire in 2007.  The term of office of this member that is scheduled to expire in 2007 shall be extended until the first Monday of January 2008, at which time the member's duly elected successor shall take office.  The initial term of office of this member of the school board shall expire on the first Monday of January 2012.

          (b)  On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2007, an election shall be held in District 2 for the purpose of electing a member of the school board to succeed the member whose term of office expires in 2008.  The initial term of office of this elected member of the school board shall expire on the first Monday of January 2012.

          (c)  On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2008, an election shall be held in District 3 for the purpose of electing a member of the school board to succeed the member whose term of office is scheduled to expire in 2009.  The initial term of office of this elected member of the school board shall expire on the first Monday of January 2012.

          (d)  On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2009, an election shall be held in District 4 for the purpose of electing a member of the school board to succeed the member whose term of office is scheduled to expire in 2010.  The initial term of office of this elected member of the school board shall expire on the first Monday of January 2012.

          (e)  On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2010, an election shall be held in District 5 for the purpose of electing a member of the school board to succeed the member whose term of office is scheduled to expire in 2011.  The initial term of office of this elected member of the school board shall expire on the first Monday of January 2012.

     Upon the expiration of the initial terms of office, all persons elected to serve on the school board shall serve for a term of four (4) years.

     On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2011, and every four (4) years thereafter, the election of members of the school board shall be held at the same time as the state and county general elections are held and conducted. 

     (4)  In order for a person to be eligible to be elected to serve on the school board, the person must be a bona fide resident and qualified elector of the school board member district entitled to that representation on the school board. 

     (5)  Candidates for the school board shall file with the municipal or county election commissioners, as appropriate, not more than ninety (90) days nor less than sixty (60) days before the date of the election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less.  The name of each qualified candidate shall be placed on the ballot.  The candidate in each school board member district who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in that district shall be elected.  However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election.  The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election.  The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected.  All persons elected to serve on the school board shall take office on the first Monday of January next following the date of their election.

     (6)  Whenever there is a vacancy in the membership of the school board, the vacancy shall be filled, depending upon the length of the unexpired term of the vacated office, in the manner provided under this subsection.

          (a)  If the unexpired term of the vacated office is six (6) months or less, the remaining members of the school board shall appoint, within sixty (60) days after the vacancy occurs, a person to serve the unexpired portion of the term.  The appointee shall be selected from the qualified electors of the school board member district in which the vacancy occurs.  The chairman of the school board shall certify to the Secretary of State the fact of the appointment, and the Governor shall commission the person appointed.

          (b)  If the unexpired term of the vacated office is greater than six (6) months, an election shall be held to fill the vacancy.  The school board shall certify in writing the fact of the vacancy to the municipal governing authorities.  At the next regular meeting of the municipal governing authorities after its receipt of certification of the vacancy from the school board, the municipal governing authorities shall make and enter on its minutes an order for an election to be held in the school board member district in which the vacancy exists and shall fix the date upon which the election shall be held, which date shall not be less than thirty (30) days nor more than forty-five (45) days after the date upon which the order is adopted.

     The municipal governing authorities shall publish notice of the election in a newspaper published or having a general circulation in the school district once each week for three (3) successive weeks preceding the date of the election.  The first notice must be published at least thirty (30) days before the date of the election.  Notice also shall be given by the school board by posting a copy of the notice at three (3) public places in the school board member district in which the vacancy exists and at the administrative offices of the school board not less than twenty-one (21) days before the date of the election.Candidates for the vacated office shall file with the municipal governing authorities not less than ten (10) days before the date of the election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less.  The election shall be held, as far as practicable, in the same manner as school board elections are conducted under this section.  The candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in the school board member district shall be elected.  However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election.  The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election.  The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected.  The clerk of the election commission shall give a certificate of election to the person elected and shall return to the Secretary of State a copy of the order of holding the election and its results, certified by the clerk.  The Governor shall commission the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term.

     However, if nine (9) days before the date of the election only one (1) person has qualified as a candidate, the municipal governing authorities shall dispense with the election, and the remaining members of the school board shall appoint that candidate to fill the unexpired term.  If no person has qualified at least nine (9) days before the election, the election shall be dispensed with, and the remaining members of the school board shall appoint a person, selected from the qualified electors of the school board member district in which the vacancy exists, to fill the unexpired term.  The chairman of the school board shall certify to the Secretary of State the fact of the appointment, and the Governor shall commission the person appointed.         

     SECTION 4.  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 5.  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."

     AMEND FURTHER the title to conform.