House Bill 16

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 65-9-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE MAXIMUM TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE STATE AID SYSTEM OF ROADS IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 65-9-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

65-9-3. (1) There is hereby set up for designation by cooperative action of the state and counties a state aid system of roads (including bridges and ferries), as classified and defined in Section 65-9-1, which system shall be designated by the several boards of supervisors in their respective counties, with the consent and approval of the State Aid Engineer, to a total mileage not in excess of * * * twenty-six thousand six hundred seventy-seven and four-hundredths (26,677.04) miles not including any municipal streets, except that a state aid route may be extended into a municipality in order to make a convenient and orderly connection with the nearest paved or surfaced street or highway capable of carrying the traffic originating on or destined for such state aid route and thereby making a systematic connection with the highway and street systems of the state and its political subdivisions. Such system may be modified or revised from time to time by mutual agreement between the said boards of supervisors and the State Aid Engineer. Mileage on the state aid system shall be allocated to the several counties of the state in the following proportions:

(a) One-third (1/3) shall be allocated to all counties in equal shares;

(b) One-third (1/3) shall be allocated to counties based on the proportion that the total number of rural road miles in a county bears to the total number of rural road miles in all counties of the state; and

(c) One-third (1/3) shall be allocated to counties based on the proportion that the rural population of the county bears to the total rural population in all counties of the state, according to the latest federal decennial census.

(2) If the number of miles allocated to any county in accordance with the formula specified in subsection (1) of this section for any fiscal year after fiscal year 1994 is less than the number of miles allocated to that county for fiscal year 1994, then each county in that situation shall be allocated an additional number of miles that, when added to the number of miles allocated to the county in accordance with the formula specified in subsection (1) of this section, will be equal to the number of miles allocated to the county for fiscal year 1994.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.