MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Bain
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 45-1-2, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCLUDE THE COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION ENFORCEMENT DIVISION AND THE DRIVER SERVICE BUREAU AS SEPARATE UNITS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY; TO AMEND SECTION 41-29-107, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AMEND DISCIPLINARY POLICY WITHIN THE BUREAU OF NARCOTICS TO MATCH OTHER UNITS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND TO REMOVE OUTDATED, UNNECESSARY LANGUAGE; TO AMEND SECTION 41-61-75, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ESTABLISH THE FEE TO BE COLLECTED WHEN STATE MEDICAL EXAMINERS, PHYSICIANS AND PATHOLOGISTS ARE SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY; TO AMEND SECTION 41-61-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW TESTIMONY OF EMPLOYEES OF THE MISSISSIPPI FORENSICS LABORATORY AND THE OFFICE OF THE STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER IN CRIMINAL TRIALS TO BE CONDUCTED VIA REMOTE AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; TO AMEND SECTION 41-61-77, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY WITH THE AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH THE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND SALARIES FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE MISSISSIPPI FORENSICS LABORATORY AND THE OFFICE OF THE STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER; TO REPEAL SECTION 97-35-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH REQUIRES PERSONS CONVICTED IN ANOTHER STATE OF AN OFFENSE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN PUNISHABLE AS A FELONY IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI TO REGISTER WITH THE CHIEF OF POLICE OF THE CITY OR SHERIFF OF THE COUNTY HE OR SHE RESIDES IN; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 45-1-2, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-1-2. (1) The Executive Director of the Department of Public Safety shall be the Commissioner of Public Safety.
(2) The Commissioner of Public Safety shall establish the organizational structure of the Department of Public Safety, which shall include the creation of any units necessary to implement the duties assigned to the department and consistent with specific requirements of law including, but not limited to:
(a) Office of Public Safety Planning;
(b) Office of Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol;
(c) Office of Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (to be directed by a Lieutenant Colonel of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol);
(d) Office of Forensics Laboratories, which includes the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the Office of the State Medical Examiner;
(e) Office of Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy;
(f) Office of Support Services;
(g) Office of Narcotics, which shall be known as the Bureau of Narcotics;
(h) Office of Homeland
Security; * * *
(i) Office of Capitol Police * * *;
(j) Driver Service Bureau; and
(k) Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division.
(3) The department shall be headed by a commissioner, who shall be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The appointment of the commissioner shall be made with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commissioner shall have, at a minimum, a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
(4) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the commissioner shall appoint heads of offices, who shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner. The commissioner shall have the authority to organize the offices established by subsection (2) of this section as deemed appropriate to carry out the responsibilities of the department. The commissioner may assign to the appropriate offices such powers and duties as deemed appropriate to carry out the department's lawful functions. The organization charts of the department shall be presented annually with the budget request of the Governor for review by the Legislature.
(5) The commissioner shall appoint, from within the Department of Public Safety, a statewide safety training officer who shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner and whose duty it shall be to perform public training for both law enforcement and private persons throughout the state concerning proper emergency response to the mentally ill, terroristic threats or acts, domestic conflict, other conflict resolution, and such other matters as the commissioner may direct.
(6) The commissioner shall establish within the department the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security for the purpose of seeing that the laws are faithfully executed and for the purpose of investigating cyber-related crimes and suppressing crimes of violence and acts of intimidation and terror. The commissioner is hereby authorized to employ within the Office of Homeland Security a director, investigators and other qualified personnel as he may deem necessary to make investigation of cyber-related crimes, crimes of violence and acts of terrorism or intimidation, to aid in the arrest and prosecution of persons charged with such cyber-related crimes, crimes of violence, acts of terrorism or intimidation, or threats of violence and to perform other duties as necessary to accomplish these purposes. Investigators and other law enforcement personnel employed by the commissioner shall have full power to investigate, apprehend, and arrest persons committing cyber-related crimes, acts of violence, intimidation, or terrorism anywhere in the state, and shall be vested with the power of police officers in the performance of such duties as provided herein. Such investigators and other personnel shall perform their duties under the direction of the commissioner, or his designee. The commissioner shall be authorized to offer and pay suitable rewards to other persons for aiding in such investigation and in the apprehension and conviction of persons charged with cyber-related crimes, acts of violence, or threats of violence, or intimidation, or acts of terrorism.
(7) The commissioner shall establish within the Office of Homeland Security a Mississippi Analysis and Information Center (MSAIC Fusion Center) which shall be the highest priority for the allocation of available federal resources for statewide information sharing, including the deployment of personnel and connectivity with federal data systems. Subject to appropriation therefor, the Mississippi Fusion Center shall employ three (3) regional analysts dedicated to analyzing and resolving potential threats identified by the agency's statewide social media intelligence platform and the dissemination of school safety information.
SECTION 2. Section 41-29-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-29-107. (1) There is created within the Mississippi Department of Public Safety an office to be known as the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. The office shall have a director who shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety. The commissioner may assign to the appropriate offices of the department such powers and duties deemed appropriate to carry out the lawful functions of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
(2) The Commissioner of Public Safety is empowered to employ or appoint necessary agents. The commissioner may also employ such secretarial, clerical and administrative personnel, including a duly licensed attorney, as necessary for the operation of the bureau, and shall have such quarters, equipment and facilities as needed. The salary and qualifications of the attorney authorized by this section shall be fixed by the director, but the salary shall not exceed the salary authorized for an assistant attorney general who performs similar duties.
(3) The director and agents so appointed shall be citizens of the United States and of the State of Mississippi, and of good moral character. The agents shall be not less than twenty-one (21) years of age at the time of such appointment. In addition thereto, those appointed shall have satisfactorily completed at least two (2) years of college studies. However, two (2) years of satisfactory service as a law enforcement officer and the completion of the prescribed course of study at a school operated by the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, United States Justice Department, shall satisfy one (1) year of such college studies, and four (4) years of satisfactory service as a law enforcement officer and the completion of the prescribed course of study at such federal bureau school as stated heretofore shall fully satisfy the two (2) years of college requirement.
During the period of the
first twelve (12) months after appointment, any * * * agent of the * * * Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics shall
be subject to dismissal at the will of the * * * Commissioner of Public Safety.
After twelve (12) months' service, no * * * agent shall be
subject to dismissal * * * or otherwise have his or her salary adversely
affected except for cause, and any such action against an agent shall be subject
to and proceed under the laws, rules and regulations of the state personnel system. * * *
(4) The Commissioner of Public Safety may assign members of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, regardless of age, to the bureau; however, when any highway patrolman or other employee, agent or official of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety is assigned to duty with, or is employed by, the bureau, he shall not be subject to assignment or transfer to any other office or department within the Mississippi Department of Public Safety except by the commissioner. Any highway patrolman assigned to duty with the bureau shall retain his status as a highway patrolman, but shall be under the supervision of the director. For purposes of seniority within the Highway Safety Patrol and for purposes of retirement under the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System, highway patrolmen assigned to the bureau will be credited as if performing duty with the Highway Safety Patrol. The commissioner may assign employees of the Highway Safety Patrol to the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and may assign agents of the bureau to the Highway Safety Patrol; however, any employees so assigned must meet all established requirements for the duties to which they are assigned.
(5) The Commissioner of Public Safety may enter into agreements with bureaus or departments of other states or of the United States for the exchange or temporary assignment of agents for special undercover assignments and for performance of specific duties.
(6) The Commissioner of Public Safety may assign agents of the bureau to such duty and to request and accept agents from such other bureaus or departments for such duty.
* * *
SECTION 3. Section 41-61-75, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-61-75. (1) For each investigation with the preparation and submission of the required reports, the following fees shall be billed to and paid by the county for which the service is provided:
(a) A medical examiner or his deputy shall receive One Hundred Seventy-five Dollars ($175.00) for each completed report of investigation of death, plus the examiner's actual expenses. In addition to that fee, in cases where the cause of death was sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the medical examiner provides a SIDS Death Scene Investigation report, the medical examiner shall receive for completing that report an additional Fifty Dollars ($50.00), or an additional One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) if the medical examiner has received advanced training in child death investigations and presents to the county a certificate of completion of that advanced training. The State Medical Examiner shall develop and prescribe a uniform format and list of matters to be contained in SIDS/Child Death Scene Investigation reports, which shall be used by all county medical examiners and county medical examiner investigators in the state.
(b) The pathologist performing autopsies as provided in Section 41-61-65 shall receive One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per completed autopsy, plus mileage expenses to and from the site of the autopsy, and shall be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses for third-party testing, not to exceed One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per autopsy.
(2) * * * When a medical examiner, physician or
pathologist * * *
is subpoenaed for appearance and testimony before a grand jury, courtroom trial
or deposition as a result of their duties as a state medical examiner, physician
or pathologist, the office with which said professional is employed shall be
entitled to bill an expert witness hourly fee * * * and mileage expenses to and
from the site of the testimony, and such amount shall be paid by the jurisdiction
or party issuing the subpoena. The expert witness fee shall be Five Hundred
Dollars ($500.00) per hour, with a minimum of four (4) hours, plus one (1) hour
preparation, plus travel expenses. This fee will apply whether the medical examiner,
physician or pathologist who is subpoenaed, or otherwise required to appear, testifies
or not. Said fees shall be made payable to the Office of the State Medical Examiner.
SECTION 4. Section 41-61-59, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-61-59. (1) A person's death that affects the public interest as specified in subsection (2) of this section shall be promptly reported to the medical examiner by the physician in attendance, any hospital employee, any law enforcement officer having knowledge of the death, the embalmer or other funeral home employee, any emergency medical technician, any relative or any other person present. The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the municipal or state law enforcement agency or sheriff and take charge of the body. When the medical examiner has received notification under Section 41-39-15(6) that the deceased is medically suitable to be an organ and/or tissue donor, the medical examiner's authority over the body shall be subject to the provisions of Section 41-39-15(6). The appropriate medical examiner shall notify the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt of the body in cases of death as described in subsection (2)(m) or (n) of this section.
(2) A death affecting the public interest includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:
(a) Violent death, including homicidal, suicidal or accidental death.
(b) Death caused by thermal, chemical, electrical or radiation injury.
(c) Death caused by criminal abortion, including self-induced abortion, or abortion related to or by sexual abuse.
(d) Death related to disease thought to be virulent or contagious that may constitute a public hazard.
(e) Death that has occurred unexpectedly or from an unexplained cause.
(f) Death of a person confined in a prison, jail or correctional institution.
(g) Death of a person where a physician was not in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding death, or in prediagnosed terminal or bedfast cases, within thirty (30) days preceding death.
(h) Death of a person where the body is not claimed by a relative or a friend.
(i) Death of a person where the identity of the deceased is unknown.
(j) Death of a child under the age of two (2) years where death results from an unknown cause or where the circumstances surrounding the death indicate that sudden infant death syndrome may be the cause of death.
(k) Where a body is brought into this state for disposal and there is reason to believe either that the death was not investigated properly or that there is not an adequate certificate of death.
(l) Where a person is presented to a hospital emergency room unconscious and/or unresponsive, with cardiopulmonary resuscitative measures being performed, and dies within twenty-four (24) hours of admission without regaining consciousness or responsiveness, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty-six (36) hours preceding presentation to the hospital, or in cases in which the decedent had a prediagnosed terminal or bedfast condition, unless a physician was in attendance within thirty (30) days preceding presentation to the hospital.
(m) Death that is caused by drug overdose or which is believed to be caused by drug overdose.
(n) When a stillborn fetus is delivered and the cause of the demise is medically believed to be from the use by the mother of any controlled substance as defined in Section 41-29-105.
(3) The State Medical Examiner is empowered to investigate deaths, under the authority hereinafter conferred, in any and all political subdivisions of the state. The county medical examiners and county medical examiner investigators, while appointed for a specific county, may serve other counties on a regular basis with written authorization by the State Medical Examiner, or may serve other counties on an as-needed basis upon the request of the ranking officer of the investigating law enforcement agency. If a death affecting the public interest takes place in a county other than the one where injuries or other substantial causal factors leading to the death have occurred, jurisdiction for investigation of the death may be transferred, by mutual agreement of the respective medical examiners of the counties involved, to the county where the injuries or other substantial causal factors occurred, and the costs of autopsy or other studies necessary to the further investigation of the death shall be borne by the county assuming jurisdiction.
(4) In criminal trials where the testimony of a member of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory or the Office of the State Medical Examiner is required, courts shall allow for the use of audiovisual communications equipment to present such testimony remotely. However, where the defendant has designated a witness challenging the conclusions made by a member of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory or Office of the State Medical Examiner, courts shall not allow for the use of audiovisual communications equipment to present such testimony remotely.
All persons qualified to administer an oath in the State of Mississippi may swear a witness remotely by audiovisual communications technology from a location within the State of Mississippi, provided he or she can positively identify the witness and he or she is able to both see and hear the witness via audiovisual communications equipment.
A witness not located within the State of Mississippi may consent to being put under oath via audiovisual communications technology by a person located within the State of Mississippi qualified to administer an oath in the State of Mississippi.
( * * *5) The chief county medical examiner
or chief county medical examiner investigator may receive from the county in
which he serves a salary of One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($1,250.00)
per month, in addition to the fees specified in Sections 41-61-69 and 41-61-75,
provided that no county shall pay the chief county medical examiner or chief
county medical examiner investigator less than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00)
per month as a salary, in addition to other compensation provided by law. In
any county having one or more deputy medical examiners or deputy medical
examiner investigators, each deputy may receive from the county in which he
serves, in the discretion of the board of supervisors, a salary of not more
than Nine Hundred Dollars ($900.00) per month, in addition to the fees
specified in Sections 41-61-69 and 41-61-75; however, no county shall pay the
deputy medical examiners or deputy medical examiner investigators less than
Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) per month as a salary in addition to other
compensation provided by law. For this salary the chief shall assure twenty-four-hour
daily and readily available death investigators for the county, and shall
maintain copies of all medical examiner death investigations for the county for
at least the previous five (5) years. He shall coordinate his office and
duties and cooperate with the State Medical Examiner, and the State Medical
Examiner shall cooperate with him.
SECTION 5. Section 41-61-77, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-61-77. (1) The Department of Public Safety shall establish and maintain a central office for the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the State Medical Examiner with appropriate facilities and personnel for postmortem medicolegal examinations. District offices, with appropriate facilities and personnel, may also be established and maintained if considered necessary by the department for the proper management of postmortem examinations.
The facilities of the central and district offices and their staff services may be available to the medical examiners and designated pathologists in their investigations.
(2) In order to provide proper facilities for investigating deaths as authorized in Sections 41-61-51 through 41-61-79, the State Medical Examiner may arrange for the use of existing public or private laboratory facilities. The State Medical Examiner may contract with qualified persons to perform or to provide support services for autopsies, studies and investigations not inconsistent with other applicable laws. Such laboratory facilities may be located at the University of Mississippi Medical Center or any other suitable location. The State Medical Examiner may be an affiliate or regular faculty member of the Department of Pathology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and may serve as a member of the faculty of other institutions of higher learning. He shall be authorized to employ, with the approval of the Commissioner of Public Safety, such additional scientific, technical, administrative and clerical assistants as are necessary for performance of his duties. Such employees in the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the Office of the State Medical Examiner shall be subject to the rules, regulations and policies of the Mississippi State Personnel Board in their employment. The Department of Public Safety may set the salaries for and establish minimum qualifications for the employees of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the Office of the State Medical Examiner.
(3) The State Medical Examiner shall be authorized to employ qualified pathologists as deputy state medical examiners as are necessary to carry out the duties of his office. The deputy state medical examiners shall be licensed to practice medicine and, either board-certified in forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology or be a physician who is board certified in anatomic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. The State Medical Examiner may delegate specific duties to competent and qualified medical examiners within the scope of the express authority granted to him by law or regulation. Employees of the Office of the State Medical Examiner shall have the authority to enter any political subdivisions of this state for the purpose of carrying out medical investigations.
SECTION 6. Section 97-35-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, which requires persons convicted in another state of an offense that would have been punishable as a felony in the State of Mississippi to register with the chief of police of the city or sheriff of the county he or she resides in, is repealed.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.