House Bill 374

AN ACT TO CREATE THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION SYSTEM FUND AND TO PROVIDE FOR ITS ADMINISTRATION; TO PROVIDE LOCAL ASSESSMENTS ON MISDEMEANOR OFFENSES WHICH SHALL BE DEPOSITED INTO THE FUND; TO AMEND SECTIONS 45-27-7 AND 45-27-8, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. There is established in the State Treasury the Criminal Justice Information System Fund. The purpose of the fund shall be to provide supplemental funding for the Criminal Justice Information System for the criminal justice system. In addition to any other monetary penalties and other penalties imposed by law, each county or municipality shall assess a surcharge in an amount that is a minimum of Five Dollars ($5.00), but not to exceed Ten Dollars ($10.00), on each person upon whom a county, justice or municipal court imposes a fine or other penalty for any misdemeanor offense, including vehicular parking and registration. The proceeds from the surcharge shall be deposited in the fund and shall be used to assist in funding the Criminal Justice Information System. The fund is authorized to accept funds from any legal source and from the federal government. Interest earned on the special fund shall remain in the fund and the fund shall not be subject to any fiscal year limitations. The Criminal Information Center Special Fund shall be closed and any monies remaining in such fund shall be deposited into the Criminal Justice Information System Fund.

SECTION 2. Section 45-27-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

45-27-7. (1) The Mississippi Justice Information Center shall:

(a) Develop, operate and maintain an information system which will support the collection, storage, retrieval and dissemination of all data described in this chapter, consistent with those principles of scope, security and responsiveness prescribed by this chapter.

(b) Cooperate with all criminal justice agencies within the state in providing those forms, procedures, standards and related training assistance necessary for the uniform operation of the statewide center.

(c) Offer assistance and, when practicable, instruction to all local law enforcement agencies in establishing efficient local records systems.

(d) Make available, upon request, to all local and state criminal justice agencies, to all federal criminal justice agencies and to criminal justice agencies in other states any information in the files of the center which will aid such agencies in the performance of their official duties. For this purpose the center shall operate on a twenty-four-hour basis, seven (7) days a week. Such information, when authorized by the director of the center, may also be made available to any other agency of this state or any political subdivision thereof and to any federal agency, upon assurance by the agency concerned that the information is to be used for official purposes only in the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension of criminal offenders.

(e) Cooperate with other agencies of this state, the crime information agencies of other states, and the national crime information center systems of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in developing and conducting an interstate, national and international system of criminal identification and records.

(f) Make available, upon request, to nongovernmental entities or employers certain information for noncriminal justice purposes as specified in Section 45-27-12.

(g) Institute necessary measures in the design, implementation and continued operation of the justice information system to ensure the privacy and security of the system. Such measures shall include establishing complete control over use of and access to the system and restricting its integral resources and facilities and those either possessed or procured and controlled by criminal justice agencies. Such security measures must meet standards developed by the center as well as those set by the nationally operated systems for interstate sharing of information.

(h) Provide data processing for files listing motor vehicle drivers' license numbers, motor vehicle registration numbers, wanted and stolen motor vehicles, outstanding warrants, identifiable stolen property and such other files as may be of general assistance to law enforcement agencies; provided, however, that the purchase, lease, rental or acquisition in any manner of "computer equipment or services," as defined in Section 25-53-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be subject to the approval of the Mississippi Information Technology Services.

(i) Maintain a field coordination and support unit which shall have all the power conferred by law upon any peace officer of this state.

(j) Administer the Criminal Justice Information System Fund created in Section 1 of this act.

(2) The department, including the investigative division or the center, may:

(a) Obtain and store fingerprints, descriptions, photographs and any other pertinent identifying data from crime scenes and on persons who:

(i) Have been or are hereafter arrested or taken into custody in this state:

1. For an offense which is a felony;

2. For an offense which is a misdemeanor;

3. As a fugitive from justice; or

(ii) Are or become habitual offenders; or

(iii) Are currently or become confined to any prison, penitentiary or other penal institution; or

(iv) Are unidentified human corpses found in the state; or

(v) Have submitted fingerprints for conducting criminal history record checks.

(b) Compare all fingerprint and other identifying data received with that already on file and determine whether or not a criminal record is found for such person, and at once inform the requesting agency or arresting officer of those facts that may be disseminated consistent with applicable security and privacy laws and regulations. A record shall be maintained for a minimum of one (1) year of the dissemination of each individual criminal history, including at least the date and recipient of such information.

(c) Establish procedures to respond to those individuals who file requests to review their own records, pursuant to Sections 45-27-11 and 45-27-12, and to cooperate in the correction of the central center records and those of contributing agencies when their accuracy has been successfully challenged either through the related contributing agencies or by court order issued on behalf of an individual.

(d) Retain in the system the fingerprints of all law enforcement officers and part-time law enforcement officers, as those terms are defined in Section 45-6-3, and of all applicants to law enforcement agencies.

SECTION 3. Section 45-27-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

45-27-8. The center, by direction of the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, shall establish and collect fees reasonably calculated to reimburse the center for the actual cost of searching, reviewing, duplicating and mailing records or information of any kind maintained by the center and authorized for release by this chapter.

No records shall be furnished by the center which are classified as confidential by law.

All fees collected by the center pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited into the Criminal Justice Information System Fund in the State Treasury. Monies deposited in such fund shall be expended by the center, as authorized and appropriated by the Legislature, to defray the expenses of the center. Any revenue in the fund which is not encumbered at the end of the fiscal year shall not lapse to the State General Fund but shall remain in the special fund.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2007.