House Bill 1171

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-1-53, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXCLUDE STEP-RELATIVES FROM THE NEPOTISM RESTRICTIONS FOR APPOINTED OR EMPLOYED OFFICERS, CLERKS, STENOGRAPHERS, DEPUTIES OR ASSISTANTS PAID OUT OF PUBLIC FUNDS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 25-1-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-1-53. It shall be unlawful for any person elected, appointed or selected in any manner whatsoever to any state, county, district or municipal office, or for any board of trustees of any state institution, to appoint or employ, as an officer, clerk, stenographer, deputy or assistant who is to be paid out of the public funds, any person related by blood or marriage within the third degree, excluding step-relatives, computed by the rule of the civil law, to the person or any member of the board of trustees having the authority to make such appointment or contract such employment as employer. This section shall not apply to any employee who shall have been in said department or institution prior to the time his or her kinsman, within the third degree, became the head of said department or institution or member of said board of trustees; and this section shall not apply to any person seeking appointment as an election worker who has served as an election worker in the election immediately preceding the commencement of a term of office as an election commissioner by his kinsman within the third degree. The provision herein contained shall not apply in the instance of the employment of physicians, nurses or medical technicians by governing boards of charity hospitals or other public hospitals.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2007.