Senate Bill 2280

AN ACT TO CREATE SECTION 99-19-38, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELEGATE TO THE CIRCUIT COURT UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES THE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY OF THE LEGISLATURE TO RESTORE SUFFRAGE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 99-19-38, Mississippi Code of 1972:

99-19-38. (1) Any person who has lost the right of suffrage by reason of conviction of crime and has not been pardoned therefrom may petition the circuit court of the county of conviction to have the full right of suffrage restored provided the following conditions are met:

(a) The person has completed his sentence and any other penalties imposed upon him;

(b) The person is not subject to any suspended sentence; and

(c) The person has published for thirty (30) days, in some newspaper in the county where the crime was committed, and in case there be no newspaper published in said county, then in an adjoining county, his petition for pardon, setting forth therein the reasons why such pardon should be granted.

(2) Upon order of the circuit court to restore suffrage becoming final, the person shall have the full right of suffrage restored as though an act had been passed by the Legislature in accordance with Section 253 of the Constitution of the State of Mississippi restoring the right of suffrage to such person.

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.