MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Finance

By: Senator(s) Dearing, Posey, Hyde-Smith

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 3, CHAPTER 595, LAWS OF 1999, TO AUTHORIZE COPIAH-LINCOLN COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO UTILIZE FUNDS ALLOCATED TO IT IN THE 1999 COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS FUND TO PURCHASE PROPERTY IN NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 595, Laws of 1999, is amended as follows:

Section 3. (1) (a) A special fund, to be designated as the "1999 Community and Junior Colleges Capital Improvements Fund" is created within the State Treasury. The fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer as a separate and special fund, separate and apart from the General Fund of the state. Unexpended amounts remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned or investment earnings on amounts in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund. Monies in the fund may not be used or expended for any purpose except as authorized under Sections 1 through 20 of this act.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c) of this subsection monies deposited into the fund shall be disbursed, in the discretion of the Department of Finance and Administration, to pay the costs of construction of new facilities and addition to or renovation of existing facilities, or community and junior college campuses as recommended by the State Board of Community and Junior Colleges. The amount to be expended at each community and junior college is as follows:

Coahoma $ 626,750.00

Copiah-Lincoln 881,750.00

East Central 806,000.00

East Mississippi 710,000.00

Hinds 1,735,250.00

Holmes 857,000.00

Itawamba 966,500.00

Jones 1,258,250.00

Meridian 881,000.00

Mississippi Delta 923,000.00

Mississippi Gulf Coast 1,561,250.00

Northeast Mississippi 985,250.00

Northwest Mississippi 1,123,250.00

Pearl River 936,500.00

Southwest Mississippi 748,250.00

(c) In addition to the purposes for which monies deposited in the fund are authorized to be disbursed that are provided for in paragraph (b) of this subsection, monies in the fund allocated to Copiah-Lincoln Community college, may be disbursed to pay the cost of the purchase of land in Natchez, Mississippi.

(2) Amounts deposited into such special fund shall be disbursed to pay the costs of projects described in subsection (1) of this section. Promptly after the commission has certified, by resolution duly adopted, that the projects described in subsection (1) shall have been completed, abandoned, or cannot be completed in a timely fashion, any amounts remaining in such special fund shall be applied to pay debt service on the bonds issued under Sections 1 through 20 of this act, in accordance with the proceedings authorizing the issuance of such bonds and as directed by the commission.

(3) The Department of Finance and Administration, acting through the Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management, is expressly authorized and empowered to receive and expend any local or other source funds in connection with the expenditure of funds provided for in this section. The expenditure of monies deposited into the special fund shall be under the direction of the Department of Finance and Administration, and such funds shall be paid by the State Treasurer upon warrants issued by such department, which warrants shall be issued upon requisitions signed by the Executive Director of the Department of Finance and Administration or his designee.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.