MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2019 Regular Session

To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency; Elections

By: Senator(s) Dawkins

Senate Bill 2635

AN ACT TO CODIFY SECTION 7-11-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REESTABLISH THE OFFICE OF STATE LAND COMMISSIONER AND PROVIDE FOR HIS ELECTION AT THE SAME TIME AND MANNER AS OTHER STATE OFFICIALS ARE ELECTED; TO EMPOWER AND AUTHORIZE THE STATE LAND COMMISSIONER TO HAVE GENERAL SUPERVISION OVER PUBLIC LANDS, SIXTEENTH SECTION OR LIEU LANDS, CHICKASAW SCHOOL LANDS AND LANDS FORFEITED TO THE STATE FOR NONPAYMENT OF TAXES TO THE SAME EXTENT AS SUCH LANDS ARE SUPERVISED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 7-11-2, 7-11-3, 7-11-4, 7-11-6, 7-11-8, 7-11-11, 7-11-13, 7-11-15, 7-11-17, 7-11-19, 7-11-25 AND 29-3-1.1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

     SECTION 1.  The following provision shall be codified as Section 7-11-1, Mississippi Code of 1972:

     7-11-1.  (1)  Effective with the November 2019 general election, there shall be a State Land Commissioner, who shall be elected as other state officers are in the general election, whose term of office shall be four (4) years, and until his successor shall have been qualified.  He shall possess the same qualifications as are required of the Secretary of State, and shall qualify as other state officers, and shall be paid a salary equal to the Secretary of State per year out of the State Treasury for his services.  The State Land Commissioner may also employ such clerks and may employ necessary stenographic help.  The salaries of the clerks and the stenographic help shall be fixed by the State Land Commissioner and paid out of any money appropriated to the State Land Commissioner's office for such purposes.

     (2)  The State Land Commissioner shall have charge of the swamp and the overflowed lands and indemnity lands in lieu thereof, the internal improvement lands, the Chickasaw school lands, for supervisory purposes the Choctaw school or sixteenth section lands, the lands forfeited to the state for nonpayment of taxes after the time allowed by law for redemption shall have expired, and of all other public lands belonging to or under the control of the Secretary of State; and the regulation, sale and disposition of all such lands, except the sixteenth section school lands, shall be made through the State Land Office.

     SECTION 2.  Section 7-11-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-2.  Effective January 1, 2020, the Public Lands Division of the Office of * * * State Land Commissioner Secretary of State as heretofore existing is hereby abolished, and all the duties, responsibilities and title of said office are transferred to the Office of * * *Secretary of State the State Land Commissioner, who shall perform the duties heretofore performed by the * * *elected State Land Commissioner Public Lands Division of the Office of Secretary of State for the State of Mississippi.

     SECTION 3.  Section 7-11-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-3.  The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall have custody of the records of the Surveyor General's office turned over to this state by the United States, all field notes, plats and maps of surveys of lands belonging to the old Office of Swamp Land Commissioner and all other papers, documents and records which were formerly kept in the land office.  All such records now in the possession of any other officer shall be delivered to the * * *secretary of state State Land Commissioner.

     SECTION 4.  Section 7-11-4, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-4.  The words * * *"state land commissioner," "land commissioner," "Secretary of State," "State Land Office" and "land office" shall mean the * * *secretary of state reestablished Office of the State Land Commissioner wherever they appear in Sections 3-5-11, 21-33-69, 21-37-49, 25-7-83, 27-3-43, 27-29-1, 27-35-65, 27-35-69, 27-39-319, 27-45-21, 29-1-1, 29-1-5, 29-1-7, 29-1-9, 29-1-13, 29-1-17, 29-1-21, 29-1-25, 29-1-27, 29-1-31, 29-1-33, 29-1-35, 29-1-37, 29-1-43, 29-1-49, 29-1-51, 29-1-53, 29-1-55, 29-1-57, 29-1-59, 29-1-61, 29-1-63, 29-1-65, 29-1-67, 29-1-69, 29-1-71, 29-1-77, 29-1-79, 29-1-83, 29-1-85, 29-1-87, 29-1-89, 29-1-91, 29-1-93, 29-1-95, 29-1-99, 29-1-101, 29-1-107, 29-1-111, 29-1-113, 29-1-115, 29-1-119, 29-1-123, 29-1-131, 29-1-133, 33-11-11, 49-5-1, 51-29-81, 51-29-85, 51-29-87, 51-33-43, 51-33-45, 51-35-159, 55-3-9, 55-7-13, 55-13-31, 59-9-21, 59-9-67, 89-11-3, 89-11-15, 89-11-19, 89-11-21, 89-11-27 and 89-11-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, or in any other place where they appear in the laws of this state.

     SECTION 5.  Section 7-11-6, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-6.  The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall appoint a competent attorney to be designated as an Assistant * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner, who shall have the responsibilities of performing the function of the former * * *State Land Office Public Lands Division of the Office of Secretary of State in addition to any other duties as assigned by the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner.

     The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner is empowered and authorized to employ such other office assistants, clerical employees and field inspectors on either a temporary or permanent basis as shall be necessary to perform the former duties and functions of the State Land Office. * * *The Assistant Secretary of State hereby created shall be in addition to any other assistant secretaries of state previously designated or heretofore authorized.  The * * *State Land Commissioner elected pursuant to Section 7‑11‑1 Secretary of State shall deliver the seal, all records, reports and other property of the * * *State Land Office Public Lands Division of the Office of Secretary of State to the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner prior to the expiration of his term of office.

     SECTION 6.  Section 7-11-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-8.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the functions formerly assigned to the Secretary of State by this chapter shall be merged and coordinated with similar functions being exercised by the reestablished State Land Office on * * * the effective date of this chapter January 1, 2020.

     SECTION 7.  Section 7-11-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-11.  The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall have charge of the swamp and the overflowed lands and indemnity lands in lieu thereof, the internal improvement lands, the lands forfeited to the state for nonpayment of taxes after the time allowed by law for redemption shall have expired, and of all other public lands belonging to or under the control of the state.  The regulation, sale and disposition of all such lands shall be made through the * * *secretary of state's State Land Commissioner's office.

     The * * *secretary of state State Land Commissioner shall sign all conveyances and leases of any and all state-owned lands and shall record same in a book kept in his office for such purposes.

     SECTION 8.  Section 7-11-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-13.  All state land records, all levee land records, and all other land records, except assessment rolls, shall be kept in the Office of the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner and be held by him.

     The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall keep a record of all state-owned lands in a separate and well-bound book.  He is authorized and empowered to request of any board, commission, department or other state agency having under its jurisdiction state-owned lands the records herein required to be recorded in his office, and it shall be the duty of any state agency to comply with the request of the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner.

     SECTION 9.  Section 7-11-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-15.  The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall secure a sufficient number of suitable and well-bound books for each county, so that the lands now or hereafter owned by the state may be complied therein.  The books, in addition to the necessary columns on which to list all necessary information with reference to the lands owned, shall contain a column on which to number all patents or contracts issued and any other information.  The order of arrangement and all other matters pertaining thereto are hereby specifically left to the discretion of the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner.

     In addition to the foregoing records, the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall provide and cause to be kept a separate register of the several different classes of lands, with appropriate references to other records or documents for information concerning the whole class, and of each parcel, if need be.  He may cause correct township maps to be prepared from the field notes of original surveys, with all errors in the location of natural objects, if any there be, corrected, which maps may be supplied to the several counties at reasonable prices; and he may, in like manner, have maps and plats lithographed and sold.

     The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall procure a sufficient number of forms of certificates which shall be used by the chancery clerks of each of the various counties in certifying to the * * *Secretary of State's office State Land Commissioner's office lands sold to the state for unpaid taxes in his county, and the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall provide such certificates in such form that they may be bond by him and used as a part of the permanent records of his office.  The said chancery clerks shall use only such forms of certificates in certifying said lands to the * * *Secretary of State's State Land Commissioner's office, and failure to do so shall subject such chancery clerk so refusing or failing to do so, and his bondsman, to a penalty of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), which penalty shall be collected by the Attorney General in a suit therefor filed in the name of the State of Mississippi.  Such certificates, before being filed by the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner, shall be examined by the Attorney General.  The Secretary of State, with the approval of the Attorney General, shall strike from such certificates all lands which, by reason of insufficient description or other cause, in the opinion of the Attorney General are not the property of the state; and the title of the state to such lands as may be thus stricken off shall be thereby relinquished.

     SECTION 10.  Section 7-11-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-17.  The land records in the * * *Secretary of State's State Land Commissioner's office shall be carefully preserved and valuable records shall be bound and rebound when necessary.

     SECTION 11.  Section 7-11-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-19.  The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall furnish to any party interested therein a copy or exemplification of any record, patent, plat, diagram, township plat or map, field notes, surveys or other paper or document deposited in the Office of the * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner and relating to the selection, location and survey of the public lands or otherwise concerning the same, upon the party paying therefor the fees allowed by law.

     SECTION 12.  Section 7-11-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     7-11-25.  The * * *Secretary of State State Land Commissioner shall make a report to the legislature at each regular session of all the business transactions in the * * *Secretary of State's State Land Commissioner's office pertaining to public lands for the preceding fiscal year.  He shall state therein the monthly sale of land, of what class and where situated, amount of purchase-money received for each, the totals of his monthly reports to the Auditor of fees collected; and he shall make such recommendations as may seem proper.

     SECTION 13.  Section 29-3-1.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     29-3-1.1.  For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed herein, unless the context shall otherwise require * * *.:

          (a)  "Board of education" shall mean that school board of the school district in whose present jurisdiction (i) is situated a sixteenth section of land, or (ii) was originally situated a sixteenth section of land for which land has been granted in lieu thereof.  Provided, however, that in the event a sixteenth section is situated within two (2) or more school districts, the term "board of education" shall mean that school board whose school district embraces the greatest land area within the township in which said sixteenth section is located.

          (b)  "Superintendent of education" shall mean that superintendent of schools of a school district whose board of education has control and jurisdiction over any sixteenth section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof.

          (c)  "Secretary of State" shall mean the reestablished State Land Office of the State Land Commissioner elected under Section 7-11-1.

     SECTION 14.  Section 1 of this act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.  Sections 2 through 13 of this act shall take effect and be in force from and after January 1, 2020.