Senate Bill 2653

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 29-1-65, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT PREVIOUSLY DESIGNATED "SEAT OF GOVERNMENT" LANDS SHALL RETURN TO THAT STATUS WHEN REACQUIRED OR PURCHASED BY THE STATE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 29-1-65, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

29-1-65. (1) (a) All lands fallen or falling to the state by escheat, or coming to it in any other manner; all lands belonging to the State of Mississippi which were ceded to the State of Mississippi by the United States government for a seat of government which are located in Pearl River swamp and subject to overflow, and all other seat of government lands which have been surveyed into blocks and lots in the City of Jackson, Mississippi, which were a part of the original lands ceded by the federal government to the State of Mississippi for a seat of government and which have never been disposed of by the State of Mississippi; and all accretions near the mouth of the Pascagoula River, heretofore surveyed by the state; and all other lands within the borders of the state, not belonging to the United States nor owned by another, are property of the state and are to be managed and disposed of through the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State, with the approval of the Governor, may sell any of such lands, (except as otherwise provided in this chapter), at the same price as the swamp and overflow lands, subject to be fixed in the same manner and under like regulations.

(b) Provided that all lands belonging to the State of Mississippi which were ceded to the State of Mississippi by the United States government for a seat of government which are located in Pearl River swamp and subject to overflow, and all other seat of government lands which have been surveyed into blocks and lots in the City of Jackson, Mississippi, which were a part of the original lands ceded by the federal government to the State of Mississippi for a seat of government and which have never been disposed of by the State of Mississippi, shall not be sold by the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Governor, unless and until the * * * Legislature by legislative act shall have approved the sale of such seat of government lands, or any part thereof.

(2) If, subsequent to the sale of lands specified in this section, the State of Mississippi shall purchase or otherwise reacquire such lands, the lands so acquired shall return to its previous status and be known as lands originally ceded to the State of Mississippi by the United States government for a seat of government.

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