Senate Bill 2398

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 29-3-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE EXCHANGE OF MULTIPLE PARCELS OF FORESTED SIXTEENTH SECTION LIEU LAND FOR SIGNIFICANT TIMBER MANAGEMENT, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 29-3-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

29-3-27. No sixteenth section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, situated within the school district holding or owning the same shall ever be sold, except that the board of education may, under the procedures hereinafter provided, sell such lands for industrial development thereon, therein, or thereunder to any persons, firms, or corporations in fee simple, or any lesser estate therein, for a purchase price not less than the fair market value thereof; and when any such sale is made, the deed shall be executed in the name of the State of Mississippi by the superintendent of the said board of education.

As used in this section and in Sections 29-3-29 and 29-3-61, the term "industrial development" shall include restoration as a tourist attraction the place where an organization was founded, which said organization has since been expanded to be national or international in its membership, scope, and influence.

As use in is section and in Sections 29-3-29 and 29-3-61, the term "industrial development" shall also include the consolidation of multiple parcels, each less than 160 acres and not to exceed 320 acres total, of forested sixteenth section lieu land as originally contained in Indemnity List 1 of School Sections approved February 26, 1859, and located in the same county as its controlling school district. Said consolidated parcels shall be placed in a conservation easement to facilitate significant timber industry research. This provision shall stand repealed on December 31, 2016.

The proceeds of the sale in fee simple of any sixteenth section, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, or such part of said proceeds as may be required to purchase acreage of equivalent fair market value, shall be used by the board of education, to purchase other land in the county, which land shall be held in the name of and reserved by the State of Mississippi for the support of the township schools in lieu of the land thus sold, as other sixteenth section lieu land is held, and shall be subject to all laws applicable thereto. Every such sale and every such purchase of land in lieu thereof shall be reported by the secretary of the board of education to the * * * ~~State Land Commissioner~~ Secretary of State and to the State Forestry Commission within ninety (90) days after the consummation of each such sale and purchase. Any funds from a sale in fee simple of any sixteenth section land, or land granted in lieu thereof, in excess of any amount used to purchase said land in lieu thereof, shall be treated as corpus and shall be invested by the board of education as provided by law. Only the income from such investment shall be expended for current operating expenses of the schools.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.