MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2013 Regular Session

To: Ways and Means

By: Representative Barker

House Bill 795

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 29-3-71, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXCLUDE SIXTEENTH SECTION LEASEHOLDS FROM SALES CONDUCTED FOR THE NONPAYMENT OF AD VALOREM TAXES AND TO REQUIRE TAX COLLECTORS TO NOTIFY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS OF LEASED SIXTEENTH SECTION LANDS FOR WHICH AD VALOREM TAXES HAVE NOT BEEN PAID; TO AMEND SECTIONS 29-3-73 AND 27-35-71, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; TO AMEND SECTION 29-3-82, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT THAT SIXTEENTH SECTION LEASES BE SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FOR APPROVAL; TO AMEND SECTIONS 29-3-1 AND 29-3-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PRECEDING PROVISIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

     SECTION 1.  Section 29-3-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     29-3-71.  (1)  Sixteenth section lands reserved for the use of schools, or lands reserved or granted in lieu of or as a substitute for the sixteenth sections, shall be liable, after the same shall have been leased, to be taxed as other lands are taxed during the continuance of the lease * * *, but in case of sale thereof for taxes, only the title of the lessee or his heirs or assigns shall pass by the sale.

(2)  Before the expiration of thirty (30) days after the date on which taxes are due and payable under Chapter 41, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972, the tax collector of any county in which sixteenth section or lieu lands have been leased by the board of education shall submit a certified list of the leased sixteenth section or lieu land parcels for which ad valorem taxes have not been paid to the board of education.

     SECTION 2.  Section 29-3-73, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     29-3-73.  Where any school land, generally known as sixteenth sections, reserved for the use of schools, or land reserved or granted in lieu of or substituted for sixteenth sections lies within or partly within any drainage district created under the laws of this state, and will be benefited by such drainage district, such land so benefited shall be liable for its pro rata share of the costs, expenses, taxes, and assessments relating to said district as if owned by an individual, and shall be assessed accordingly, as other lands are assessed.  * * *But in case of a sale of such lands for such taxes or assessments, only the title of the lessee holding such lands under lease at the time of the sale shall pass by the sale. 

     Where such sixteenth section land, or land taken in lieu thereof, shall be held by any lessee, whether his lease shall have heretofore been acquired or shall hereafter be acquired, all such drainage taxes and assessments accruing thereon during such lease shall, in the discretion of the board of education, either be paid by the lessee, his grantees or assigns, or by the board of education, but the liability for such drainage taxes shall be fixed by the lease contract when said lands are leased.  Where said lands have been leased by the superintendent of education, with the consent of the board of education in open session, and said lease contract provides that the lessee shall pay all such drainage taxes and assessments, and the lessee has actually entered upon and occupied said lands as lessee and is recognized as such, the school district in which said sixteenth section is located shall not be liable for such drainage taxes on account of the negligence of the secretary in failing to enter the order of the board approving said lease contract on its minutes.  All such drainage taxes and assessments accruing on any such lands while the same are not leased shall be paid by the board of education of the school district in which such lands are situated, out of any sixteenth section funds belonging to the township in which such lands are located, which may be on hand at the time when such drainage taxes or assessments become due or which may be thereafter at any time collected or acquired.  For the purpose of paying such drainage taxes and assessments, the board of education may borrow all money necessary to pay the same.  When any such funds are borrowed as aforesaid, for the purposes aforesaid, the same shall be repaid out of the first sixteenth section fund thereafter derived from the sixteenth section lands so taxed and assessed.

     SECTION 3.  Section 27-35-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     27-35-71.  All school lands known as the sixteenth sections, reserved for the use of schools, or lands reserved or granted in lieu of or as a substitute for the sixteenth sections, shall be liable, after the same shall have been leased, to be taxed as other lands are taxed during the continuance of the lease * * *; but in case of sale thereof for taxes, only the title of the lessee or his assignee shall pass by the sale.

     SECTION 4.  Section 29-3-82, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     29-3-82.  The following procedure shall be followed for the leasing of sixteenth section school lands or lands granted in lieu thereof which are not classified as agricultural land:

          (a)  Any present leaseholder who desires to renew his lease, or any person who desires to lease sixteenth section or lieu lands, shall make application to the superintendent of education. 

          (b)  Upon receipt of an application for the lease of such lands, the superintendent of education shall promptly give consideration to the application and he shall record his recommendation in writing and present it to the board of education at the next regular meeting of the board. 

          (c)  The board of education, at its meeting, shall consider the application and recommendation of the superintendent of education and may receive any other information which it considers bearing upon the approval of the application and lease of such land.  Within thirty (30) days of the receipt of an application, the board shall act on the application and if such action is favorable, the board of education shall submit to the superintendent of education a suggested lease agreement.  The superintendent of education shall execute the lease to the applicant under the terms and conditions set forth in the suggested lease agreement.

          (d)  * * *The superintendent of education shall then present the lease to the board of supervisors of the county where such land is located.  Within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the lease, the board of supervisors shall accept or reject the proposed rental amount. 

  (e)  If the board of supervisors accepts the lease as proposed by the board of education, the superintendent of education shall execute the lease to the applicant under the terms and conditions set forth in the lease. 

  (f)  If the board of supervisors refuses to accept the rental value set by the board of education in the proposed lease, the rental value of the lease shall be determined under the provisions set forth in Section 29‑3‑1(2). 

  (g)  All sixteenth section or lieu land leases shall be reduced to writing and signed in * * *triplicate duplicate by  * * *the president of the board of supervisors, the president of the board of education and the superintendent of education.  The chancery clerk shall certify one (1) copy of the lease to the superintendent of education and one (1) copy to the * * *state land commissioner Secretary of State, and shall record the original on the deed records of the county * * *, and abstract the lease as a mesne conveyance * * *, and record it on the minutes of the board of supervisors.  The chancery clerk shall charge and collect from the lessee the full recording fees.

     SECTION 5.  Section 29-3-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     29-3-1.  * * *(1)  Sixteenth section school lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof, constitute property held in trust for the benefit of the public schools and must be treated as such.  The board of education, under the general supervision of the * * *state land commissioner Secretary of State, shall have control and jurisdiction of said school trust lands and of all funds arising from any disposition thereof heretofore or hereafter made.  It shall be the duty of the board of education to manage the school trust lands and all funds arising therefrom as trust property.  Accordingly, the board shall assure that adequate compensation is received for all uses of the trust lands, except for uses by the public schools. 

 * * *(2)  In the event the board of supervisors declines to approve the rental value of the land set by the board of education, the board of education shall within ten (10) days appoint one (1) appraiser, the board of supervisors shall within twenty (20) days appoint one (1) appraiser and the two (2) appraisers so appointed shall within twenty (20) days appoint a third appraiser whose duty it shall be to appraise the land, exclusive of buildings and improvements, the title to which is not held in trust for the public schools, and to file a written report with each board setting forth their recommendation for the rental value of the land within thirty (30) days.  The cost of the appraisal shall be paid from any available sixteenth section school funds or other school funds of the district.  If no appeal is taken within twenty (20) days as provided hereunder, the lease shall be executed in accordance with said recommended rental value within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the appraisers' report.  In the event any party is aggrieved by the decision of the appraisers setting forth the appraised rental value, the party so aggrieved shall be entitled to an appeal to the chancery court in which the land is located.  Such appeal shall be taken within twenty (20) days following the decision.  The chancery court, on appeal, may review all of the proceedings, may receive additional evidence, and make findings of fact, as well as conclusions of law to insure that a fair and reasonable return may be obtained on the sixteenth section lands or lands in lieu thereof.

     SECTION 6.  Section 29-3-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

     29-3-29.  Before any sixteenth section school land or land granted in lieu thereof may be sold or leased for industrial development thereon, therein or thereunder under the provisions of this chapter, the board of education controlling such land shall first determine that such sale or lease will be fair market value.  In the determination of the fair market value of said land the comparative sales method shall be used, and the highest and best use of said sixteenth section lands shall be determined on the basis of finding that said land shall be susceptible to any use that comparative land in private ownership may be used, that there will be prompt and substantial industrial development on, in, or under said land after the sale or lease, that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, and that such sale or lease will be beneficial to and in the best interest of the schools of the district for which said land is held.  All of said findings, including the amount of the sale price or gross rental for said land, shall be spread on the minutes of the board of education.  Also, if the board of education proposes to sell said land, said board shall first enter into a contract or obtain a legal option to purchase, for a specified price not in excess of fair market value, other land in the county of acreage of equivalent fair market value, and such contract or option shall be spread on the minutes of said board.  However, not more than one hundred (100) acres in any one (1) sixteenth section school lands in any county may be sold under this chapter for the purpose of being made an industrial park or a part of such industrial park, provided the provisions of this section and Sections 57-5-1 and 57-5-23 are fully complied with.

 * * *A certified copy of the resolution or order of the board of education, setting out the foregoing findings, together with a certified copy of the order approving and setting out the terms of the contract or option to purchase other lands where a sale of land is proposed and an application to the Mississippi Agricultural and Industrial Board for the certificate authorizing said sale or lease, shall be forwarded to the county board of supervisors, which board shall make an independent investigation of the proposed sale or lease and of the proposed purchase of other land.

If said county board of supervisors shall concur in the finding of fact of the board of education, and shall find that it is to the best interests of the schools of the district to enter into such sale or lease, it may enter on its minutes a resolution or order approving the action of the board of education.

If the said county board of supervisors shall not concur in the findings of the board of education, or shall find that the proposed sale or lease will not be in the best interest of the schools of the district, then it may, by resolution or order, disapprove the proposed sale or lease, and such action shall be final.

     There shall be reserved all minerals in, on, and under any lands conveyed under the provisions hereof.  Provided, however, that in any county bordering on the State of Alabama, traversed by the Tombigbee River, in which U.S. Highway 82 intersects U.S. Highway 45 and in which is situated a state supported institution of higher learning, upon the sale of any sixteenth section lands for industrial purposes as provided by law, the board of education, the superintendent of education and the Mississippi  * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority, may sell and convey all minerals except oil, gas, sulphur and casinghead gas on, in and under the said sixteenth section lands so sold for industrial purposes.  Said oil, gas, sulphur and casinghead gas shall be reserved together with such rights of use, ingress and egress as shall not unreasonably interfere with the use of the lands by the purchaser.  Prior written approval for such use, ingress and egress, shall be obtained from the surface owner or, if such approval is unreasonably withheld, may be obtained from the chancery court of the county in which said land is located.

     Certified copies of the resolutions or orders of * * *the board of supervisors and of the board of education and of the application to the Mississippi * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority shall be transmitted to the county superintendent of education, if there be one in the county, who, if he approves the proposed sale or lease, shall so certify and forward same to the Mississippi * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority.  If there be no county superintendent of education in the county, then the board of education whose district embraces the entire county shall so certify and transmit said copies to the Mississippi * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority for further action.

     Upon receipt of the aforesaid application and certified copies of the said resolution and orders, the Mississippi * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority shall make investigation to determine whether or not the proposed sale or lease of said land will promote prompt and substantial industrial development thereon, therein, or thereunder.  If the * * *board authority finds that such sale or lease will promote prompt and substantial industrial development thereon, therein or thereunder, and further finds that the person, firm or corporation who proposes to establish said industry is financially responsible, and that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, then the * * *board authority, in its discretion, may issue a certificate to the board of education of said district so certifying, and said certificate shall be the authority for the board of education to enter into the proposed sale or lease.  If the Mississippi * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority does not so find, then it shall decline to issue said certificate which action shall be final.

     The Mississippi * * *Agricultural and Industrial Board Development Authority, when issuing a certificate to the county board of education certifying its findings and authorizing said sale or lease, may, nevertheless, in its discretion, make such sale or lease conditioned on and subject to the vote of the qualified electors of said district.  Upon receipt of a certificate so conditioned upon an election, or upon a petition as hereinafter provided for, the board of education, by resolution spread upon its minutes, shall forward a copy of the certificate to the board of supervisors who by resolution upon its minutes, shall call an election to be held in the manner now provided by law for holding county elections, and shall fix in such resolution a date upon which such an election shall be held, of which not less than three (3) weeks notice shall be given by the clerk of said board of supervisors by publishing a notice in a newspaper published in said county once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks preceding the same, or if no newspaper is published in said county, then in a newspaper having a general circulation therein, and by posting a notice for three (3) weeks preceding said election at three (3) public places in said county.  At such election, all qualified voters of the county may vote, and the ballots used shall have printed thereon a brief statement of the proposed sale or lease of said land, including the description and price, together with the words "For the proposed sale or lease" and the words "Against the proposed sale or lease," and the voter shall vote by placing a cross (x) or check (v) opposite his choice of the proposition.  Should the election provided for herein result in favor of the proposed sale or lease by at least two-thirds (2/3) of the votes cast being in favor of the said proposition, the board of supervisors shall notify the board of education who may proceed forthwith to sell or lease said land in accordance with the proposition so submitted to the electors.  If less than two-thirds (2/3) of those voting in such special election vote in favor of the said sale or lease, then said land shall not be sold or leased.

     The board of education shall further be required, prior to passing of a resolution expressing its intent to sell said land, to publish a notice of intent to sell said land for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in said county or, if there be none, in a newspaper having a general circulation in said county, and to post three (3) notices thereof in three (3) public places in said county, one (1) of which shall be at the courthouse, for said time.  If within the period of three (3) weeks following the first publication of said intent, a petition signed by twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of said county shall be filed with the board of supervisors requesting an election concerning the sale, then an election shall be called as hereinabove provided.

     SECTION 7.  Nothing in this act shall affect or defeat any claim, assessment, appeal, suit, right or cause of action for taxes due or accrued under the ad valorem tax laws before the date on which this act becomes effective, whether such claims, assessments, appeals, suits or actions have been begun before the date on which this act becomes effective or are begun thereafter; and the provisions of the ad valorem tax laws are expressly continued in full force, effect and operation for the purpose of the assessment, collection and enrollment of liens for any taxes due or accrued and the execution of any warrant under such laws before the date on which this act becomes effective, and for the imposition of any penalties, forfeitures or claims for failure to comply with such laws.

     SECTION 8.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.

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