Senate Bill 2049

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 69-1-1, 65-1-3, 25-31-1, 23-15-300, 19-21-103, 19-3-3, 37-5-1, 21-3-9, 21-5-5, 23-15-309, 37-7-201, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT ELECTED OFFICIALS IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE, TRANSPORTATION COMMISSIONERS, DISTRICT ATTORNEYS, SHERIFFS, CHANCERY CLERKS, CIRCUIT CLERKS, TAX ASSESSORS, TAX COLLECTORS, COUNTY COURT JUDGES, COUNTY ATTORNEYS, SURVEYORS, CORONERS, SUPERVISORS, JUSTICE COURT JUDGES, CONSTABLES, ELECTION COMMISSIONERS, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS, LEVEE COMMISSIONERS, MAYORS, ALDERMEN, COUNCILMEN, MUNICIPAL OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES, TO BE NATURAL BORN CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 69-1-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

69-1-1. (1) A Department of Agriculture and Commerce is created and established under the management and control of a public officer to be known as the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, who shall have competent knowledge of agriculture, mining, manufacturing, statistics and general industries, must be an experienced and practical agriculturist; must be a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident of the state for five (5) years immediately preceding the day of election; and shall be elected by the people at the time and in the manner that other state officers are elected.

(2) The residency requirements specified under this section shall apply to elections held from and after January 1, 2020.

SECTION 2. Section 65-1-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

65-1-3. There shall be a State Highway Commission which shall consist of three (3) members, one (1) from each of the three (3) Supreme Court Districts of the state. Only qualified electors who are natural born citizens of the United States and citizens of the Supreme Court District in which he or she seeks election for five (5) years immediately preceding the day of the election shall be eligible for such office; however, the five-year citizen requirement shall apply to elections held from and after January 1, 2020.

On Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the year 1951, and every four (4) years thereafter, State Highway Commissioners shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as the Governor is chosen; and the laws governing primary elections and the holding of general elections in this state shall apply to and govern the nomination and election of State Highway Commissioners. The State Highway Commissioners so elected shall enter upon the discharge of the duties of their respective offices on the first Monday of January in the year next succeeding the date of their election, and they shall serve for a term of four (4) years and until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified.

If any one or more of the State Highway Commissioners elected under the provisions of this chapter shall die, resign or be removed from office, the Governor shall fill the vacancy by appointment for the unexpired term, provided such unexpired term shall not exceed twelve (12) months. If such unexpired term shall exceed twelve (12) months, the Governor shall, within fifteen (15) days from the date of such vacancy, by proclamation duly made, call an election in the Supreme Court District in which such vacancy exists, to be held within sixty (60) days from the date of the issuance of such proclamation, at which election a State Highway Commissioner shall be elected to fill such vacancy for the remaining portion of such unexpired term. Such special election shall be held in the manner provided for holding general elections in this state, as far as practicable.

Each of said State Highway Commissioners, before entering upon the discharge of the duties of his or her office, shall take and subscribe the oath of office required of other state officials and shall execute bond in the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00), with some surety company authorized to do business in this state as surety, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his or her office and for the faithful and true accounting of all funds or monies or property coming into his or her hands by virtue of his or her office, and conditioned further that all such funds, monies and property will be expended and used by him or her only for purposes authorized by law, said bond to be approved by the Governor or Attorney General and to be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State. The premium on such bonds shall be paid out of the funds of the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

From and after July 1, 1992, the State Highway Commission shall be the Mississippi Transportation Commission and the members thereof shall be the Mississippi Transportation Commissioners.

SECTION 3. Section 25-31-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-31-1. (1) The district attorney shall possess all the qualifications of county officers and, in addition thereto, shall be a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident of the district in which he or she seeks election for five (5) years immediately preceding the day of the election, shall be a regular licensed and practicing attorney, and shall have been duly admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the State of Mississippi for a period of two (2) years.

(2) The residency requirements specified under this section shall apply to elections held from and after January 1, 2020.

SECTION 4. Section 23-15-300, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-300. (1) Any candidate for any municipal, county or county district office shall be a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident of the municipality, county, county district or other territory that he or she seeks to represent in such office for two (2) years immediately preceding the day of election. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any municipality with less than one thousand (1,000) residents according to the latest federal decennial census.

(2) A candidate shall prove in his or her qualifying information that he or she meets the applicable residency requirement or provide absolute proof, subject to no contingencies, that he or she will meet the residency requirement on or before the date of the election at which the candidate could be elected to office. The appropriate election official or executive committee, whichever is applicable, with whom a candidate files qualifying information shall review and determine whether the candidate meets the applicable residency requirement according to the procedures in Section 23-15-299. The appropriate election commission shall review and determine whether a candidate required to file qualifying information with it meets the applicable residency requirement according to the procedures in Section 23-15-359.

(3) If the qualifications for an elected office include a specific residency requirement, the residency requirement in this section shall not apply.

(4) This section shall apply to elections held from and after January 1, 2020.

SECTION 5. Section 19-21-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

19-21-103. (1) Beginning with the 1987 general election and thereafter, each candidate for the elected office of coroner shall, as a minimum, possess a high school graduation diploma or its equivalent, be twenty-one (21) years of age or older, be a natural born citizen of the United States and be a qualified elector of the county in which elected.

(2) The minimum education requirements of subsection (1) of this section and subsection (1) of Section 41-61-57 shall not apply to any coroner holding office on July 1, 1986, who is reelected in the 1987 general election and thereafter, as long as such coroner maintains continuous active service as county medical examiner or county medical examiner investigator. However, all other portions of subsection (1) of Section 41-61-57 shall apply to such coroners.

SECTION 6. Section 19-3-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

19-3-3. A person shall not be a member of the board of supervisors who is not a natural born citizen of the United States, a resident freeholder in the district for which he or she is chosen, and the owner of real estate of the value of One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00).

SECTION 7. Section 37-5-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-5-1. (1) There is hereby established a county board of education in each county of the State of Mississippi. Said county board of education shall consist of five (5) members, one (1) of which, subject to the further provisions of this chapter and except as is otherwise provided in Section 37-5-1(2), shall be elected by the qualified electors of each board of education district of the county. Except as is otherwise provided in Section 37-5-3, each member so elected shall be a natural born citizen of the United States and a resident and qualified elector of the district from which he or she is elected.

(2) The county board of education shall apportion the county school district into five (5) single member board of education districts. The county board of education shall place upon its minutes the boundaries determined for the new five (5) board of education districts. The board of education of said county shall thereafter publish the same in some newspaper of general circulation within said county for at least three (3) consecutive weeks and after having given notice of publication and recording the same upon the minutes of the board of education of said county, said new district lines will thereafter be effective. The board of education of said county shall reapportion the board of education districts in accordance with the procedure described herein for the original apportionment of districts as soon as practicable after the results of the 2000 decennial census are published and as soon as practicable after every decennial census thereafter.

(3) In counties where the Office of "Administrative Superintendent" as defined in Section 37-6-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, has been abolished, there shall be no county board of education.

SECTION 8. Section 21-3-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-3-9. The mayor and members of the board of aldermen shall be natural born citizens of the United States and qualified electors of the municipality and, in addition, the aldermen elected from and by wards shall be residents of their respective wards.

SECTION 9. Section 21-5-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

21-5-5. The mayor and councilmen (or commissioners) of all cities operated under the commission form of government shall be elected from the city at large, but the municipal authorities may establish as many wards and as many voting precincts in each ward as may be necessary or desirable. No person shall be eligible to the office of mayor or councilman unless he or she is a natural born citizen of the United States, a qualified elector of such city and shall have been a bona fide resident thereof for a period of at least one (1) year next preceding the date of the commencement of his or her term of office.

In the event the council should ordain that the councilmen posts shall be separated, as provided in Section 21-5-11, such post shall be so separated for election purposes and persons seeking the office of councilman shall qualify and seek election for a specific post, as designated by ordinance, and each post shall be voted on separately by the qualified electors of the municipality voting in said election.

In the event there should be but one (1) candidate for one (1) of such election posts, or only one (1) candidate for each of such posts, then such candidate or candidates shall be declared to be elected.

SECTION 10. Section 23-15-309, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-309. (1) Nominations for all municipal officers which are elective shall be made at a primary election, or elections, to be held in the manner prescribed by law. All persons desiring to be candidates for the nomination in the primary elections shall first pay Ten Dollars ($10.00) to the clerk of the municipality, at least sixty (60) days before the first primary election, no later than 5:00 p.m. on such deadline day. If the sixtieth day to file the fee and written statement before an election falls on a Sunday or legal holiday, the fees and written statements submitted on the business day immediately following the Sunday or legal holiday shall be accepted.

(2) The fee paid pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall be accompanied by a written statement containing the name and address of the candidate, the party with which he or she is affiliated, the email address of the candidate, if any, and the office for which he or she is a candidate.

(3) The clerk shall promptly receipt the payment, stating the office for which the person making the payment is running and the political party with which such person is affiliated. The clerk shall keep an itemized account in detail showing the time and date of the receipt of such payment received by him or her, from whom such payment was received, the party with which such person is affiliated and for what office the person paying the fee is a candidate. No candidate may attempt to qualify with any political party that does not have a duly organized municipal executive committee, and the municipal clerk shall not accept any assessments made pursuant to subsection (1) if the municipal clerk does not have contact information for the secretary of the municipal executive committee for that political party. The clerk shall promptly supply all necessary information and pay over all fees so received to the secretary of the proper municipal executive committee. The funds may be used and disbursed in the same manner as is allowed in Section 23-15-299 in regard to other executive committees.

(4) Upon receipt of the above information, the proper municipal executive committee shall then determine, at the time of the qualifying deadline, whether each candidate is a natural born citizen of United States, a qualified elector of the municipality, and of the ward if the office sought is a ward office, shall determine whether each candidate either meets all other qualifications to hold the office he or she is seeking or presents absolute proof that he or she will, subject to no contingencies, meet all qualifications on or before the date of the general or special election at which he or she could be elected to office. The executive committee shall determine whether the candidate has taken the steps necessary to qualify for more than one (1) office at the election. The committee also shall determine whether any candidate has been convicted of any felony in a court of this state, or has been convicted on or after December 8, 1992, of any offense in another state which is a felony under the laws of this state, or has been convicted of any felony in a federal court on or after December 8, 1992. Excepted from the above are convictions of manslaughter and violations of the United States Internal Revenue Code or any violations of the tax laws of this state unless such offense also involved misuse or abuse of his or her office or money coming into his or her hands by virtue of the office. If the proper municipal executive committee finds that a candidate either (a) does not meet all qualifications to hold the office he or she seeks and fails to provide absolute proof, subject to no contingencies, that he or she will meet the qualifications on or before the date of the general or special election at which he or she could be elected, or (b) has been convicted of a felony as described in this subsection and not pardoned, then the executive committee shall notify the candidate and give the candidate an opportunity to be heard. The executive committee shall mail notice to the candidate at least three (3) business days before the hearing to the address provided by the candidate on the qualifying forms, and the committee shall attempt to contact the candidate by telephone, email and facsimile if the candidate provided this information on the forms. If the candidate fails to appear at the hearing or to prove he or she meets all qualifications to hold the office subject to no contingencies, then the name of such candidate shall not be placed upon the ballot. If the executive committee determines that the candidate has taken the steps necessary to qualify for more than one (1) office at the election, the action required by Section 23-15-905, shall be taken.

(5) Where there is but one (1) candidate, the proper municipal executive committee when the time has expired within which the names of candidates shall be furnished shall declare such candidate the nominee.

SECTION 11. Section 37-7-201, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-7-201. In order for a person to be eligible to hold the office of trustee of any school district, such person must be a natural born citizen of the United States, a bona fide resident and a qualified elector of such school district, and, in the case of a school district lying in two (2) or more counties, but not including municipal separate school districts, such person must be a natural born citizen of the United States, a bona fide resident and a qualified elector of the territory entitled to such representation on the board.

SECTION 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.