MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Judiciary

By: Senator(s) Minor, Hawks

AN ACT TO CREATE A NEW CODE SECTION TO BE CODIFIED AS SECTION 9-7-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CREATE THE TWENTY-THIRD CIRCUIT COURT DISTRICT; TO AMEND SECTIONS 9-7-45 AND 9-7-46, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The following provision shall be codified as Section 9-7-59, Mississippi Code of 1972:

9-7-59. The Twenty-third Circuit Court District shall be comprised of DeSoto County. The initial holder of the circuit judgeship therefor shall be that judge elected circuit judge from subdistrict 17-1.

SECTION 2. Section 9-7-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

9-7-45. The Seventeenth Circuit Court District shall * * * consist of Panola County, Tallahatchie County, Tate County and Yalobusha County.

SECTION 3. Section 9-7-46, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

9-7-46. * * * There shall be two (2) circuit judges for the Seventeenth Circuit Court District.

SECTION 4. From and after the effective date of this act and until any intervening appointment or election, the two (2) judges of the Seventeenth Circuit District shall be those two (2) judges elected from subdistrict 17-2 in the 1998 general election.

SECTION 5. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is hereby directed to 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 6. 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.