MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Reynolds
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-313, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE A MUNICIPAL PARTY TO SELECT CITIZENS OF THE MUNICIPALITY TO SERVE ON A TEMPORARY MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE; TO PROVIDE A PROCEDURE IF SUCH TEMPORARY MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE IS NOT SELECTED; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-315, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING SECTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-313, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-313. (1) Every political party, or parties, in a municipality * * * shall select qualified electors from the municipality and of that party’s political faith to serve on a temporary municipal executive committee for four (4) years or until a permanent municipal executive committee is elected during a municipal election, whichever comes first. The temporary municipal executive committee shall be selected in the following manner: Upon petition of five (5) or more members of that political faith, the chairman of the county executive committee of the party shall call a mass meeting of the qualified electors of their political faith who reside in such municipality to meet at some convenient place and time within such municipality. The place and time shall be designated in the call with concurrence of the petitioners, and held within forty (40) days of receipt of the petition. At such mass convention, the members of that political faith shall select a temporary municipal executive committee which shall serve until the next primary election. The chairman of the county executive committee shall authorize the call, within five (5) calendar days of receipt of the petition. If the chairman of the county executive committee is either incapacitated, unavailable or nonresponsive and does not authorize the mass call within five (5) calendar days of receipt of the petition, any elected officer of the county executive committee may authorize the call within five (5) calendar days. If no elected officer of the county executive committee acts to approve such petition after an additional five (5) calendar days from the date, the chair of the county executive committee not taking action as provided herein, the petitioners shall be authorized to produce the call themselves.
(2) If no county executive committee of the political party exists, then the petitioners are authorized to produce the call themselves. The public shall be given notice of such mass meeting as provided in the next succeeding section. No member of the public convicted of any felony shall be eligible to serve on such temporary or regularly elected municipal executive committee.
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-315, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-315. The chairman of the county executive committee, or party authorized by Section 23-15-313, shall publish a copy of his call for a meeting in some newspaper published in the county and distributed in the municipality affected for three (3) weeks preceding the date set for said mass convention, or if there be no newspaper published and distributed in the county where the municipality is located, by posting notices in three (3) public places, one of which shall be on or near the front door of the city clerk’s office, in said municipality not less than three (3) weeks before the date for said mass convention. Such continuous postings in the public places shall be verified and affirmed by affidavit by the municipality’s city clerk upon request of the petitioners described in Section 23-15-313, Mississippi Code of 1972. In addition, to facilitate those voters who may not see the postings or read in the newspaper published and distributed in the municipality, if available, the announcement of such call will be made in the local media, either radio or television, where coverage can be received in the municipality.
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.