MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2020 Regular Session

To: Municipalities; Apportionment and Elections

By: Representatives Barton, Eubanks, Criswell

House Bill 221

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR AN ELECTION ON THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION IN BOTH THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE TERRITORY PROPOSED TO BE ANNEXED WHEN THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES OF A MUNICIPALITY DESIRE TO ENLARGE ITS BOUNDARIES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-29, 21-1-31, 21-1-33, 21-1-35, 21-1-37 AND 21-1-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION FROM CHANCERY COURT PROCEEDINGS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

     SECTION 1.  Section 21-1-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-27.  (1)  (a)  The limits and boundaries of existing cities, towns and villages shall remain as now established until altered in the manner hereinafter provided.  When any municipality * * *shall desires to enlarge or contract * * *the its boundaries * * *thereof by adding * * *thereto adjacent unincorporated territory or excluding * * *therefrom from its boundaries any part of the incorporated territory of * * *such the municipality, the governing authorities of such municipality shall pass an ordinance defining with certainty the territory proposed to be included in or excluded from the corporate limits, and also defining the entire boundary as changed.  * * *In the event If the municipality desires to enlarge * * *such its boundaries, * * * such the ordinance shall in general terms describe the proposed improvements to be made in the annexed territory, the manner and extent of such improvements, and the approximate time within which such improvements are to be made; * * *such the ordinance shall also contain a statement of the municipal or public services which such municipality proposes to render in such annexed territory.  * * *In the event If the municipality * * *shall desires to contract its boundaries, such ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for * * *such the contraction and a statement showing * * *whereby how the public convenience and necessity would be served * * *thereby by the contraction.

(b)  If twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be annexed by a municipality petitions the governing body of the municipality for an election on the question of the proposed annexation, within sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the annexation ordinance, the appropriate election officials shall hold separate elections in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed on the question of the proposed annexation.  The elections shall be held within sixty (60) days after certification of the petition by the municipal clerk.  Notice of the elections shall be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks before the election date in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county or counties in which the municipality and the territory proposed to be annexed are located.  The first publication shall be made not less than twenty-one (21) days before the election date.  The elections shall be held in the same manner as are other elections. The annexation shall not be permitted or approved unless both the electors in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed approve the annexation by majority vote of those electors voting in the election.  If fewer than a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall be approved.  If a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall not be approved.  If approved in the elections, the ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days after the date of the final determination of the results of the elections or on a later date that is specified in the ordinance.  If a petition for the election is not filed, the ordinance shall become effective sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the ordinance or on a later date that is specified in the ordinance. If the ordinance is not approved in the elections, the municipality shall not adopt another ordinance proposing the annexation of any of the same territory for a period of five (5) years from the date of the election.

 * * *(2)  (a)  When any municipality having a population in excess of forty thousand (40,000) wherein is located a state‑supported university and in which U.S. Highways 49 and 11 intersect and which has boundaries that lie within two (2) counties desires to enlarge its boundaries by adding adjacent unincorporated territory after January 1, 2016, the governing authorities of the municipality shall pass, in addition to the requirements provided in subsection (1), an ordinance:

   (i)  Certifying that more than fifty percent (50%) of the people who reside in the unincorporated area of the census block within the territory proposed to be annexed shall be included in the proposed annexation; or

   (ii)  Certifying that upon approval of the annexation, the municipality shall cede any authority to provide zoning and subdivision regulation to the board of supervisors of the county in which the territory is located, if fifty percent (50%) or fewer people who reside in the unincorporated area of the census block within such territory is included in the proposed annexation.  If such authority is ceded, as provided under this subparagraph, then the governing authorities of the municipality * * * is are authorized to advise the board of supervisors of the county concerning such regulation; however, the ultimate authority regarding the regulation shall lie with the board of supervisors of the county.

This subsection (2) shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2019.

(3)  For the purposes of this section, "census block" refers to certain geographic areas as designated by the latest federal decennial census preceding any annexation under this section.

 * * *This subsection (3) shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2019.

     SECTION 2.  Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-29.  When any * * * such ordinance * * * shall be proposing to contract the municipal boundaries is passed by the municipal authorities, * * * such the municipal authorities shall file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which * * * such the municipality is located * * *; however, when a municipality wishes to annex or extend its boundaries across and into an adjoining county such municipal authorities shall file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which such territory is located.  The petition shall recite the fact of the adoption of * * * such the ordinance and shall pray that the * * *, enlargement or contraction of the municipal boundaries * * * , as the case may be, shall be ratified, approved and confirmed by the court.  There shall be attached to * * * such the petition, as exhibits * * * thereto, a certified copy of the ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a map or plat of the municipal boundaries as they will exist * * * in event such enlargement or if the contraction becomes effective.

     SECTION 3.  Section 21-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-31.  Upon the filing of * * * such the petition and upon application therefor by the petitioner, the chancellor shall fix a date certain, either in term time or in vacation, when a hearing on * * * said the petition will be held, and notice * * * thereof of the hearing shall be given in the same manner and for the same length of time as is provided in Section 21-1-15 with regard to the creation of municipal corporations * * *, and a.  All parties interested in, affected by, or being aggrieved by * * * said proposed enlargement or the contraction shall have the right to appear at such hearing and present their objection to * * * such proposed enlargement or the contraction. * * *  However, in all cases of the enlargement of municipalities where any of the territory proposed to be incorporated is located within three (3) miles of another existing municipality, then such other existing municipality shall be made a party defendant to said petition and shall be served with process in the manner provided by law, which process shall be served at least thirty (30) days prior to the date set for the hearing.

     SECTION 4.  Section 21-1-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-33.  (1)  If the chancellor finds from the evidence presented at the hearing that the proposed * * * enlargement or contraction is reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity * * *and, in the event of an enlargement of a municipality, that reasonable public and municipal services will be rendered in the annexed territory within a reasonable time and that the governing authority of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the proposed * * *enlargement or contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as altered.  In so doing, the chancellor shall have the right and the power to modify the proposed * * *enlargement or contraction by decreasing the territory to be * * *included in or excluded from the municipality, as the case may be.

     (2)  If the chancellor shall find from the evidence that the * * *proposed enlargement or contraction * * *, as the case may be, is unreasonable and is not required by the public convenience and necessity, or in the event * * * of an enlargement of a municipality, that the governing authority of the municipality failed to comply with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, then he shall enter a decree denying the * * *enlargement or contraction.

     (3)  In any event, the decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10) days from the date * * * thereof of the decree or, in the event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten (10) days from the final determination of the appeal.  In any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal authorities to show that the proposed * * *enlargement or contraction is reasonable.

     SECTION 5.  Section 21-1-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-35.  * * * In the event If no objection is made to the petition for the * * * enlargement or contraction of the municipal boundaries, the municipality shall be taxed with all costs of the proceedings.  * * * In the event If the objection is made, * * * such the costs may be taxed in * * * such the manner * * *as the chancellor shall determine to be equitable pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.  * * * In the event of If there is an appeal from the judgment of the chancellor, the costs incurred in the appeal shall be taxed against the appellant if the judgment * * * be is affirmed, and against the appellee if the judgment * * * be is reversed.

     SECTION 6.  Section 21-1-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-37.  If the municipality or any other interested person who was a party to the proceedings in the chancery court * * * be is aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor regarding contraction of the municipal boundaries, then * * *such the municipality or other person may prosecute an appeal * * * therefrom from the chancellor's decree within the time and in the manner and with like effect as is provided in Section 21-1-21 in the case of appeals from the decree of the chancellor with regard to the creation of a municipal corporation.

     SECTION 7.  Section 21-1-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     21-1-39.  (1)  Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality * * * shall be enlarged or are contracted, as herein provided, the chancery clerk shall forward, after the expiration of ten (10) days from the date of * * * such the decree if no appeal be taken therefrom, * * * forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of * * * such the decree, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record thereof.  * * * In the event If an appeal * * * be is taken from * * * such the decree and * * * such the decree is affirmed, then the certified copy * * * thereof of the decree shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State within ten (10) days after receipt of the mandate from the Supreme Court notifying the clerk of * * * such the affirmance.

(2)  Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality are enlarged as provided in Section 21-1-27, the governing body of the municipality, after the annexation ordinance has become effective, shall forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of the ordinance, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record thereof.

SECTION 8.  Any action on an ordinance proposing the enlargement of municipal boundaries that is pending before a court on the effective date of this act as a result of any prior law shall be withdrawn, and an election as provided in Section 21-1-27 may be held.

     SECTION 9.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.

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