House Bill 1066

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-991, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ELIMINATE THE FOURTEEN-MONTH GAP BETWEEN ELECTION AND TAKING OFFICE OF CERTAIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-991, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-991. The term of office of judges of the Supreme Court shall be eight (8) years. * * * An election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November immediately preceding the expiration of the term of an incumbent in the Supreme Court district from which each incumbent was elected and likewise each eighth year thereafter, at which there shall be elected a successor to the incumbent, whose term of office shall thereafter begin on the first Monday of January of the year in which the term of the incumbent he succeeds expires.

SECTION 2. 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 3. 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.