Senate Bill 2832

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 51-15-107, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW COUNTIES OF THE FORMER PEARL RIVER BASIN DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT TO JOIN THE PAT HARRISON WATERWAY DISTRICT; TO ESTABLISH A PROCEDURE FOR CALLING FOR PETITION ELECTIONS ON THE QUESTION OF JOINING THE DISTRICT; TO AMEND SECTION 51-15-118, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT WITHDRAWALS FROM THE PAT HARRISON WATERWAY DISTRICT BE EFFECTIVE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FISCAL YEAR IN WHICH THE WITHDRAWING COUNTY MEETS ALL OF ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER LAW; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 51-15-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

51-15-107. The Pat Harrison Waterway Commission, acting through its members who favor bringing the counties they represent into the Pat Harrison Waterway District, or other counties having Pascagoula River, Leaf River, Chickasawhay River, or Tallahala Creek tributaries shall petition the chancery court of Forrest County, Mississippi, to organize and establish the Pat Harrison Waterway District and shall set forth in the petition:

(1) The counties to be included in the Pat Harrison Waterway District. Each member of the Pat Harrison Waterway Commission, as created by virtue of Sections 51-15-1 through 51-15-9, and any county through which the Pascagoula, Leaf, and Chickasawhay Rivers and Tallahala Creek run, or other counties having tributaries to such streams or which border on said streams, may be included in the district.

(2) The necessity and desirability for the developments and construction of suitable facilities.

(3) A general description of the purposes of the contemplated works, and a general description of the plan.

The petition shall be filed with as many copies as there are parties defendant.

The board of water commissioners of the State of Mississippi shall be made a party defendant, and the chancery clerk shall furnish the board of water commissioners with a copy of the petition with attached exhibits. Each county named in the petition shall be joined as a party defendant by service of process on the president of the board of supervisors thereof, and the chancery clerk shall furnish a copy of the petition to each such president. Whenever any municipality having a population according to the most recent federal census of ten thousand (10,000) or more is included in such proposed district, such municipality shall be made a party defendant.

It shall not be necessary that any landowners in the counties to be included in said proposed district be named in the petition, or be made parties defendant. The chancellor of the chancery court of Forrest County, Mississippi, shall have jurisdiction of the entire waterway district for the purposes of this article. Such jurisdiction may be exercised by the chancellor in term time or in vacation, as provided in this article.

(4) In addition to the counties set out in paragraph (1) of this section, the counties included within the former Pearl River Basin Development District as of July 1, 2017, may, by resolution of the Board of Supervisors, become members of the Pat Harrison Waterway District. Any such county shall give notice to the residents of the county by publishing such resolution in a newspaper of general circulation within ten (10) days of its adoption. Within forty-five (45) days of such resolution, if twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the county sign a petition calling for an election on the question, the Board of Supervisors shall set a date for an election. Notice of such election shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county once a week for three (3) weeks before the date of the election.

SECTION 2. Section 51-15-118, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

51-15-118. From and after July 1, 1999, the board of supervisors of any county that is included in the Pat Harrison Waterway District may elect to withdraw such county from the district. The withdrawing county shall be responsible for paying its portion of any district bonds, contractual obligations, and any other indebtedness and liabilities of the district that are outstanding on the date of such county's withdrawal from the district. The withdrawing county's portion of such liabilities, obligations and indebtedness shall be determined through an independent audit conducted by a certified public accountant. The board of supervisors of the withdrawing county shall provide the sum that is required by this section either by appropriation from any available funds of the county or by levy. Such board of supervisors may borrow funds as needed to satisfy the withdrawing county's portion of the liabilities, obligations and indebtedness of the district as required herein. No withdrawal shall become effective until the close of the fiscal year in which the county has satisfied its obligations under this section.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.