House Bill 1120

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 63-7-43, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY MAY APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE LIGHT BARS; TO PROVIDE THAT ANY PERSON WHO USES A LIGHTING DEVICE DISAPPROVED BY THE DEPARTMENT SHALL BE GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 63-7-45, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 63-7-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-7-43. (1) The department is hereby authorized to approve or disapprove lighting devices, including light bars, and to issue and enforce regulations establishing standards and specifications for the approval of such lighting devices, their installation, aiming, and readjustment. Such regulations shall correlate with and, so far as practicable, conform to the then current standards and specifications of the Society of Automotive Engineers applicable to such equipment.

(2) The department is hereby required to approve or disapprove any lighting device, of a type on which approval is specifically required in this chapter within a reasonable time after such device has been submitted.

(3) The department is further authorized to set up the procedure which shall be followed when any lighting device is submitted for approval.

(4) The department upon approving any lighting device shall issue to the applicant a certificate of approval together with any instructions determined by it.

(5) The department shall publish lists of all lighting devices by name and type which have been approved by it.

(6) Any person who uses a lighting device disapproved by the department shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished in accordance with Section 63-9-11.

SECTION 2. Section 63-7-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

63-7-45. When the department has reason to believe that an approved lighting device as being sold commercially does not comply with the requirements of this chapter, it may, after giving thirty days' previous notice to the person holding the certificate of approval for such device in this state, conduct a hearing upon the question of compliance of said approved device. After said hearing the department shall determine whether said approved device meets the requirements of this chapter. If said device does not meet such requirements, it shall give notice to the person holding the certificate of approval for such device in this state.

If after the expiration of ninety days after such notice the person holding the certificate of approval for such device has failed to satisfy the department that said approved device as thereafter to be sold meets the requirements of this chapter, the department shall suspend or revoke the approval issued therefor until or unless such device is resubmitted to and retested by an authorized testing agency and is found to meet the requirements of this chapter. The department may require that all said devices sold since the notification following the hearing be replaced with devices that do comply with the requirements of this chapter. The department may at the time of the retest purchase in the open market and submit to the testing agency one or more sets of such approved devices, and if such device upon such retest fails to meet the requirements of this chapter, the department may refuse to renew the certificate of approval of such device.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.