MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2004 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Fleming
AN ACT TO REVISE THE TERMS OF CERTAIN PUBLIC OFFICIALS ELECTED IN 2003; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-193, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT OFFICERS ELECTED AT THE GENERAL STATE ELECTION SHALL BE ELECTED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE GENERAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2008 AND EVERY FOUR YEARS THEREAFTER; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Those elected officials enumerated in Section 23-15-193 who are elected in the general election in 2003 shall serve a term of five (5) years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, which shall expire upon election and qualification of their successors at the general election in 2008. Thereafter, the terms of such elected officials shall be as provided in Section 23-15-193.
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-193, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-193. At the election in 2008, and every four (4) years thereafter, there shall be elected a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, Attorney General, three (3) public service commissioners, three (3) Mississippi Transportation Commissioners, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, Senators and members of the House of Representatives in the Legislature, district attorneys for the several districts, clerks of the circuit and chancery courts of the several counties, as well as sheriffs, coroners, assessors, surveyors and members of the boards of supervisors, justice court judges and constables, and all other officers to be elected by the people at the general state election. All such officers shall hold their offices for a term of four (4) years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The state officers shall be elected in the manner prescribed in Section 140 of the Constitution.
SECTION 3. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, 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.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, provided that House Concurrent Resolution No. ____, 2004 Regular Session, is ratified by the electorate.