MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Judiciary; Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Turner

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-3-43, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT AND JUDGES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS SHALL RECEIVE A DAILY EXPENSE ALLOWANCE IN THE SAME AMOUNT AS THE FEDERAL EXPENSE ALLOWANCE RATE, WHICH SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO THEIR REGULAR SALARY AND MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT; TO AMEND SECTION 9-4-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 25-3-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-3-43. (1) When any chancery judge, county judge or circuit judge shall be required to travel in the performance of his official duties, such judge shall receive as expenses of such travel the mileage allowance and a reimbursement for other actual and necessary expenses incurred in such travel as provided for public officers and employees in Section 25-3-41, Mississippi Code of 1972. This shall be the entire travel allowances or travel expenses received by such judges.

(2) Chancery judges and circuit judges shall direct requests for reimbursement for the travel expenses authorized pursuant to this section to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court shall submit such requests to the Department of Finance and Administration.

(3) The Supreme Court shall have the power to adopt rules and regulations regarding the administration of travel expenses authorized pursuant to this section.

(4) In any county in which is located a State Penitentiary, the board of supervisors, in order to compensate the justice court judges who are required to travel to the State Penitentiary, is authorized to reimburse justice court judges' mileage in the amount authorized by Section 25-3-41, but not to exceed One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per month, such monies to be paid from the general county fund of such county.

(5) In addition to the regular salary provided by Section 25-3-35 and the mileage reimbursement provided by Section 25-3-41, each Supreme Court Justice and each judge of the Court of Appeals shall receive an expense allowance as specified in this subsection. The expense allowance shall be equal to the maximum daily expense rate allowable to employees of the federal government for travel in the high rate geographical area of Jackson, Mississippi, as may be established by federal regulations, per day, for each day while attending to judicial duties, up to a maximum of twenty (20) days per month.

SECTION 2. Section 9-4-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

9-4-13. (1) The judges of the Court of Appeals shall receive salaries as provided for in Section 25-3-35, shall be reimbursed for mileage expenses incurred in performing their duties at the rate authorized by law for public officials and employees as provided for in Section 25-3-41, and shall receive an expense allowance as provided for in Section 25-3-43.

(2) Staff attorneys, law clerks and all other employees of the Court of Appeals shall be of the same grade classification as Supreme Court employees performing the same or similar duties.

SECTION 3. All new programs authorized under this Senate Bill No. 2303, 1999 Regular Session, shall be subject to the availability of funds specifically appropriated therefor by the Legislature.

SECTION 4. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.