MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Labor

By: Representative Flaggs

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 71-5-367, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE METHOD OF FILING LIENS FOR CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS OWED TO THE STATE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 71-5-367, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

71-5-367. If an employer shall file a report in proper form and in proper amount, but shall fail to pay the amount of contributions shown to be due thereby at the time of such filing, or if an employer shall fail to pay any assessment as provided and made under Section 71-5-365 within fifteen (15) days after such assessment has become final as herein provided, the commission may issue a warrant under its official seal, directed to the sheriff of any county of the state, commanding him to levy upon and sell the real and personal property of such employer as has defaulted in the payment of such contributions or assessments, which may be found within his county, for the payment of the amount thereof, together with interest, damages, if any, assessed for failure to make and file a report or a corrected or sufficient report, and an additional sum not exceeding one hundred percent (100%) of the amount of the unpaid contributions due, in the discretion of the commission, as damages for failure to pay, if not already assessed under Section 71-5-365 and the costs of executing the warrant and to return such warrant to the commission, and to pay to it the money collected by virtue thereof on the date specified therein. The commission shall cause to be delivered to the clerk of the circuit court a copy of such warrant issued to the sheriff. Such clerk shall enter in the judgment roll, in the column for judgment debtors, the name of the employer mentioned in the warrant and, in appropriate columns, the amount of contributions, interest and damages for which the warrant is issued, a notation that the lien covers all previous, current and future periods for the life of the lien, and the date when such copy is filed. Thereupon the amount of such warrant so filed and entered shall become a lien upon the title to and interest in all real and personal property, including choses in action against negotiable instruments not past due, of the employer against whom the warrant is issued in the same manner as a judgment duly enrolled in the office of such clerk. Any such liens shall cover all contributions, interest and damages owed to the commission from previous, current and future periods until the expiration of such lien or until the amount of the lien is fully satisfied. Such judgment shall not be a lien upon the property of the employer for a period of more than seven (7) years from the date of filing of the notice of the tax lien for failure to pay contributions, damages and interest unless action be brought thereon before the expiration of such time or unless the commission refiles such notice of tax lien before the expiration of such time. The judgment shall be a lien upon the property of the employer for a period of seven (7) years from the date of refiling such notice of tax lien unless action be brought thereon before the expiration of such time or unless the commission refiles such notice of tax lien before the expiration of such time. There shall be no limit upon the number of times the commission may refile notices of tax liens. The sheriff shall proceed upon the warrant in the same manner and with like effect as that provided by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgments or in attachment proceedings of a court of record, and the remedies by garnishment shall apply; and for his services in executing the warrant the sheriff shall be entitled to the same fees, which he may collect in the same manner.

The commission may elect to issue the warrant directly to the circuit clerk of any county of this state for enrollment upon the judgment rolls of the county. In such case, the clerk shall enter in the judgment roll, in the column for judgment debtors, the name of the employer mentioned in the warrant and, in appropriate columns, the amount of contributions, interest and damages for which the warrant is issued, a notation that the lien covers all previous, current and future periods for the life of the lien, and the date when such warrant is filed. The lien shall have the same effect and remedies as that provided by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgments or in attachment proceedings of a court of record, and the remedies by garnishment shall apply.

On the suggestion of the commission, in writing, that any person is indebted to an employer named in any warrant which has been entered on the judgment roll in the office of the circuit clerk of any county, or has property of such employer in his hands, or knows of some other person who is so indebted, or who has effects or property of such employer in his hands, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court of such county to issue a writ of garnishment directed to the sheriff or proper officer, commanding him to summon such person as garnishee to appear at a term of the circuit court of the county, or a term of the county court, as in cases provided by law for garnishment upon the judgments of such court, to answer accordingly. The * * * circuit court or county court, as the case may be, shall assume full jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties, and all the provisions of law with respect to garnishment proceedings instituted in the circuit court under Sections 11-35-1 through 11-35-61 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be applicable as far as possible thereto.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.