MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2003 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representative Fleming
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 3-3-16, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE OFFICIAL FLAG OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI SHALL HAVE AN HISTORICAL DESIGN, INCORPORATING THE NATIONAL COLORS, THE STATE EMBLEMS OF THE MOCKINGBIRD AND THE MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM, AND SILVER STARS COMMEMORATING MISSISSIPPI AS THE TWENTIETH STATE IN THE UNION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 3-3-16, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
3-3-16. The official flag of the State of Mississippi shall have the following design: with width two-thirds (2/3) of its length; the field to be divided into three bars of equal width, with each bar extending the whole length of the flag, the upper one blue, the center one white, and the lower one red; with a mockingbird (the state bird), standing on a small branch and facing away from the flagpole, in the center of the flag and overlaying the bars; with one (1) large magnolia (the state flower) blossom directly below the mockingbird and two (2) smaller magnolia blossoms (half the size of the large magnolia blossom) on each side of the large magnolia blossom, forming a semicircle under the mockingbird; with the mockingbird and the magnolia blossoms encircled by twenty (20) silver stars of equal dimension, the stars commemorating Mississippi's status as the twentieth state in the Union.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2003.