Senate Bill 2507

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 1, Chapter 553, Laws of 2012, TO REVISE THE PORTION OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT COLUMBIA TRAINING SCHOOL IN MARION COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION MAY CONVEY TO THE MARION COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS; TO AMEND SECTION 43-27-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 1, Chapter 553, Laws of 2012, is amended as follows:

Section 1. (1) After consultation with the chairmen of the Senate and House Public Property Committees, the Department of Finance and Administration, acting on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, is authorized to convey and transfer to the Board of Supervisors of Marion County, Mississippi, upon approval of the Governor and the Secretary of State, certain real property and any improvements thereon, * * *~~located at~~ commonly referred to as the "Campus" of Columbia Training School * * * in * * *~~Columbia~~ Marion County, Mississippi, containing approximately * * *~~214~~ 160 acres * * * lying South and East of Highway 44 and being more particularly described as follows:

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The N 1/2 of the SW 1/4; also, all that part of the NW 1/4 lying South of Mississippi Highway 44, all in Section 34, Township 4 North, Range 18 West, Marion County, Mississippi.

Containing 160 acres, more or less.

(2) The State of Mississippi shall retain all mineral rights to the real property donated under this section.

(3) The Legislature finds and determines that the real property transferred under this section was free of hazardous waste and in its natural state when the property was donated to the State of Mississippi by the citizens of Marion County, Mississippi, in 1916 and 1917 and that the property shall be returned in substantially the same condition.

(4) Accordingly, the Department of Finance and Administration shall ensure that the following terms and conditions are satisfied before the property is transferred:

(a) The property shall be made environmentally safe and free of hazardous materials or contaminants;

(b) Any structures thereon shall either be removed or made habitable and free of hazardous materials; and

(c) Within ninety (90) days from and after the effective date of this bill, a Phase I environmental study shall be conducted by a qualified company licensed by the State of Mississippi at the state's expense. If the study discloses that environmental issues require remedial clean-up or that state or federal guidelines require additional study of those issues, the state shall bear the sole cost of the clean-up or additional study.

SECTION 2. Section 43-27-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-27-39. (1) The purpose of this section is to ensure that Mississippi's juvenile justice system is cost-efficient and effective at reducing juvenile crime and to create a continuum of options for Mississippi's youth court judges so that they are better equipped to protect our communities and to care for our children.

(2) The Columbia Training School shall no longer operate as a secure training school for juvenile delinquents. All youth, both male and female, committed to the custody of the Department of Human Services and adjudicated to training school shall be housed at the Oakley Youth Development Center. The Oakley Youth Development Center shall provide gender-specific treatment for youth who are adjudicated delinquent.

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SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.