MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Blackwell
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 63-11-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI FORENSICS LABORATORY TO APPROVE FOR USE AT LEAST ONE MODEL OF BREATH ALCOHOL CONTENT INSTRUMENT THAT IS READILY AVAILABLE TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES THROUGHOUT THE STATE; TO AMEND SECTION 77-15-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE FROM $200.00 TO $500.00 THE MONTHLY COMPENSATION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CHICKASAWHAY NATURAL GAS DISTRICT; TO INCREASE FROM $250.00 TO $550.00 THE MONTHLY COMPENSATION OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE DISTRICT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 63-11-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
63-11-19. A chemical analysis of the person's breath, blood or urine, to be considered valid under the provisions of this section, shall have been performed according to methods approved by the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory created pursuant to Section 45-1-17 and the Commissioner of Public Safety and performed by an individual possessing a valid permit issued by the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory for making such analysis. The Mississippi Forensics Laboratory and the Commissioner of Public Safety are authorized to approve satisfactory techniques or methods, to ascertain the qualifications and competence of individuals to conduct such analyses, and to issue permits which shall be subject to termination or revocation at the discretion of the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory. The Mississippi Forensics Laboratory shall not approve the permit required herein for any law enforcement officer other than a member of the State Highway Patrol, a sheriff or his deputies, a city policeman, an officer of a state-supported institution of higher learning campus police force, a security officer appointed and commissioned pursuant to the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District Security Officer Law of 1978, a national park ranger, a national park ranger technician, a military policeman stationed at a United States military base located within this state other than a military policeman of the Army or Air National Guard or of Reserve Units of the Army, Air Force, Navy or Marine Corps, a marine law enforcement officer employed by the Department of Marine Resources, or a conservation officer employed by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The permit given a marine law enforcement officer shall authorize such officer to administer tests only for violations of Sections 59-23-1 through 59-23-7. The permit given a conservation officer shall authorize such officer to administer tests only for violations of Sections 59-23-1 through 59-23-7 and for hunting related incidents resulting in injury or death to any person by discharge of a weapon as provided under Section 49-4-31.
The Mississippi Forensics Laboratory shall make periodic, but not less frequently than quarterly, tests of the methods, machines or devices used in making chemical analysis of a person's breath as shall be necessary to ensure the accuracy thereof, and shall issue its certificate to verify the accuracy of the same.
Without compromising accepted law enforcement standards and methodologies, the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory shall approve for use at least one (1) model of a breath alcohol content instrument that is readily available to law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
SECTION 2. Section 77-15-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
77-15-1. (1)
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law to the contrary, all local natural
gas districts containing two (2) or more municipalities and nonmunicipal
customers shall establish and maintain a board of directors composed of: (a)
the mayors of each municipality within the district whose terms shall be
concurrent with their terms of office as mayor; and (b) one (1) system-user
from each county within the district, who shall not be a public official. The
county system-user board members shall be elected by the system-users residing
outside of a municipality, in the county in which such board member resides.
In order to qualify as a candidate for election to the board, each person shall
obtain, on a petition, twenty-five (25) signatures from system-users in the
county in which such person resides. The signatures shall be of system-users
residing outside of a municipality and the candidate shall be a system-user who
resides outside of a municipality. The board shall call an election within fifteen
(15) days after July 1, 1989, to be held within sixty (60) days from the date
such election is called. From and after July 1, 2007, the procedures for, and
conduct of, the election of board members of the district shall be held in
accordance with the provisions of subsection (6) of this section. Those
persons elected to the board shall serve until the next general election for
supervisors and the election for such board members thereafter shall be held at
the same time as the supervisor elections and the terms of such board members
shall be concurrent with the terms of the supervisors. The board of directors,
including any mayors who serve on the board, shall be entitled to compensation
as follows: (a) the chairperson of the board shall receive * * * Five Hundred
Fifty Dollars ($550.00) per month, and (b) all other board members shall
receive * * * Five Hundred Fifty Dollars ($550.00) per
month. The chairperson and vice chairperson shall be elected by and from the
entire membership of the governing board at the first meeting in July of each
year. The vice chairperson shall preside over meetings as the chairperson in
the absence or incapacity of the chairperson. In addition, an official meeting
may be called at any time by a two-thirds (2/3) proclamation by the board membership.
(2) Two (2) board municipal/county system-user board members who reside in his or her respective county, and must be customers of the district, and who must be system-users shall be appointed as follows for his or her initial term: (a) one (1) board member from the county lying in the northern section of the district, appointed by the Lieutenant Governor; and (b) one (1) board member from the county lying in the southern section of the district, appointed by the Governor. The appointed board municipal/county system-user board members may be elected public officials.
The initial terms of the two (2) municipal/county system-user board members shall begin July 1, 2005, and shall serve until June 30, 2008, and thereafter the municipal/county system-user board members, as described in this subsection (2), shall be elected by the municipal and county system-users as follows: The successors in office to the board member who was appointed from the county lying in the northern section of the district shall be elected only by the municipal and county system-users who reside in that county and not by all of the system-users in the district. The successors in office to the board member who was appointed from the county lying in the southern section of the district shall be elected only by the municipal and county system-users who reside in that county and not by all of the system-users in the district.
The municipal/county system-user board members shall be compensated as prescribed in subsection (1) of this section.
(3) All board members shall file any required statements of economic interest with the Ethics Commission as required by law. This section shall not apply to any local natural gas district which leases its distribution system to an investor-owned utility company regulated by the Public Service Commission.
(4) From and after July 1, 2004, the Board of Directors of the Chickasawhay Natural Gas District shall discontinue distribution of any of the revenues of the district to municipalities within the district.
(5) The provisions of this section shall only apply to the Chickasawhay Natural Gas District.
(6) The provisions of this subsection shall govern the procedure for, and conduct of, any election of the board of directors of the district. The board may adopt any rules and regulations pertaining to the election of the board of directors of the district that are not inconsistent and do not conflict with the provisions of this subsection.
(a) Notice of the election of one or more members of the board of directors shall be sent by regular United States mail to each system-user not less than thirty (30) days and not more than sixty (60) days from the election date. The notice shall state the time, place and manner in which the system-users may vote for the board of directors.
(b) The election shall be held in a manner and according to procedures to be established by rules and regulations adopted by the board before the giving of notice of the election, and a printed copy of such rules and regulations shall accompany the notice.
(c) The rules and regulations for the conduct of the election shall include the following provisions:
(i) To qualify as a candidate, a person shall not be a public official and must be a county system-user and such person must submit to the board, not less than twenty (20) days before the election, a petition containing the signatures of twenty-five (25) system-users in the county in which the candidate resides;
(ii) Notice of the nomination of qualified candidates sent by regular United States mail to the system-users at least ten (10) days before the date of the election;
(iii) The method of voting on the date of the election shall be by personal attendance at the district's office in Waynesboro, by personal attendance at the district's office in Quitman, or by proxy;
(iv) Each system-user shall have one (1) vote, provided that when a billing for service is made to more than one (1) person at a single address or location, each such person shall be limited to casting a pro rata share of the one (1) vote to which the billing address or location is entitled; and
(v) The time of the election shall be fixed between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on a day of the week other than Sunday.
(d) A certified public accountant appointed by the board shall count all votes, whether cast by personal attendance or by proxy, and he shall certify the results of the election to the board within ten (10) days of the election.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.