REPORT OF CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

S.B. No. 3144: Appropriation; Plant Industry Div.

SECTION 1. The following sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the State General Fund not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the Division of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture and Commerce, for enforcement of the Mississippi Plant Act and plant quarantines promulgated thereunder, such as quarantines involving the white-fringed beetle, imported fire ant, sweet-potato weevil, and others, and for the control and eradication of such other serious pests and plant diseases where they are known to occur or may hereafter be found in Mississippi; and the administration and enforcement of the terms and conditions of the Mississippi Commercial Feed Law of 1972; the Mississippi Pure Seed Law of 1964; the Mississippi Fertilizer Law of 1970; the Mississippi Soil and Plant Amendment Law of 1978; the Mississippi Agricultural Liming Materials Act of 1993; the Mississippi Bee Disease Law; the Mississippi Pest Control Law; the Mississippi Economic Poisons Act; and the law regulating the application of hormone-type herbicides by aircraft, including payment of the expenses of administering all phases of the Mississippi Pesticide Application Act of 1975, authorized by Sections 69-3-1, et seq., 69-23-101, et seq., 69-23-1, et seq., 69-24-1, et seq., 69-39-1, et seq., 75-45-151, et seq., and 75-47-1, et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1999, and ending June 30, 2000

$ 1,575,333.00.

SECTION 2. The following sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of the proceeds derived from any special source funds which are collected by or otherwise become available for the support and maintenance of the Division of Plant Industry of the State Department of Agriculture and Commerce for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1999, and ending June 30, 2000 $ 1,549,260.00.

SECTION 3. Of the funds appropriated under the provisions of Sections 1 and 2, not more than the amounts set forth below shall be expended for the respective major objects or purposes of expenditure:

MAJOR OBJECTS OF EXPENDITURE:

Personal Services:

Salaries, Wages and Fringe Benefits $ 2,066,694.00

Travel and Subsistence 50,500.00

Contractual Services 364,183.00

Commodities 185,700.00

Capital Outlay:

Other Than Equipment 98,000.00

Equipment 266,544.00

Subsidies, Loans and Grants 92,972.00

Total $ 3,124,593.00

FUNDING:

General Funds $ 1,575,333.00

Special Funds 1,549,260.00

Total $ 3,124,593.00

AUTHORIZED POSITIONS:

Permanent: Full Time. . . . . . . . . 41

Part Time. . . . . . . . . 4

Time-Limited: Full Time. . . . . . . . . 14

Part Time. . . . . . . . . 2

From the funds provided in the budget category "Personal Services: Salaries, Wages and Fringe Benefits," funds may be expended for the following purposes, in compliance with the policies established by the State Personnel Board and any conditions placed on such expenditures:

(a) The components of the Variable Compensation Plan shall be maintained within the constraints of the funds appropriated herein.

(b) Funds are provided to adjust the Variable Compensation Plan, including realignment, to ensure that all full-time employees with at least six (6) months of continuous current service, as of June 30, 1999, receive an increase of One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00). Funds are provided to adjust critical job classes up to an additional One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00).

(c) If an employee is currently at or above the end salary for his or her job classification, then the increase shall be built into the employee's base salary. To be eligible for any increase authorized in this section, employees may not have a current performance rating below "meets expectations" as of the effective date of the increase. Employees who subsequently receive a performance rating of "meets expectations" or above during Fiscal Year 2000 shall receive the salary increase effective the date of the rating.

It is the agency's responsibility to make certain that funds required to be appropriated for "Personal Services" for Fiscal Year 2001 do not exceed Fiscal Year 2000 funds appropriated for that purpose unless programs or positions are added to the agency's budget by the Mississippi Legislature.

Any transfers or escalations shall be made in accordance with the terms, conditions, and procedures established by law.

No general funds authorized to be expended herein shall be used to replace federal funds and/or other special funds which are being used for salaries authorized under the provisions of this act and which are withdrawn and no longer available.

SECTION 4. The money herein appropriated shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of any money in the State Treasury to the credit of the proper fund or funds as set forth in this act, upon warrants issued by the State Fiscal Officer; and the State Fiscal Officer shall issue his warrants upon requisitions signed by the proper person, officer or officers in the manner provided by law.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1999.