Senate Concurrent Resolution 549

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 254, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE LEGISLATURE.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That the following amendment to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 is proposed to the qualified electors of the state:

Amend Section 254, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read as follows:

Section 254. The Legislature shall at its regular session in the second year following the * * * decennial census and every ten (10) years thereafter, and may, at any other time, by joint resolution, by majority vote of all members of each house, apportion the state in accordance with the Constitution of the state and of the United States into consecutively numbered senatorial and representative districts of contiguous territory. The Senate shall consist of * * * thirty (30) Senators, and the House of Representatives shall consist of * * * sixty (60) Representatives * * *.

Should the Legislature adjourn, without apportioning itself as required hereby, the Governor by proclamation shall reconvene the Legislature within thirty (30) days in special apportionment session which shall not exceed thirty (30) consecutive days, during which no other business shall be transacted, and it shall be the mandatory duty of the Legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. Should a special apportionment session not adopt a joint resolution of apportionment as required hereby, a five-member commission consisting of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as chairman, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall immediately convene and within one hundred eighty (180) days of the adjournment of such special apportionment session apportion the Legislature, which apportionment shall be final upon filing with the office of the Secretary of State. Each apportionment shall be effective for the next regularly scheduled elections of members of the Legislature.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the qualified electors at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2002, as provided by Section 273 of the Constitution and by law.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the explanation of the amendment for the ballot shall read as follows: "This proposed amendment reduces the size of the Legislature. The Senate is reduced from 52 members to 30 members. The House of Representatives is reduced from 122 members to 60 members."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this resolution, immediately upon adoption by the Legislature, 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.