House Bill 240

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A STATE-ASSISTED LOCAL ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE PROGRAM FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO CERTAIN COUNTIES AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION, RECONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF HIGHWAYS, ROADS AND STREETS THAT ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE STATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM OR THE STATE AID ROAD SYSTEM; TO PROVIDE THAT THE PROGRAM SHALL BE ADMINISTERED BY THE OFFICE OF STATE AID ROAD CONSTRUCTION; TO AMEND SECTION 65-9-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) There is established a state-assisted local road construction and maintenance program to be administered by the Office of State Aid Road Construction for the purpose of providing financial assistance to counties and municipalities in the construction, reconstruction, overlaying, repair and maintenance of highways, roads and streets that are not included in the state highway system or in the state aid road system.

(2) There is created in the State Treasury a special fund to be designated as the "State-assisted County and Municipality Road Construction and Maintenance Fund." The State Fiscal Officer shall transfer the sum of Fifteen Million Dollars ($15,000,000.00) from the State General Fund to the special fund each fiscal year during fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The transfer for each fiscal year shall be made in four (4) equal quarterly payments, with the first payment in each fiscal year to be made on July 1. The monies that are deposited into the fund under the provisions of this section shall be distributed by the State Aid Engineer, upon legislative appropriation, to counties with a population not more than thirty thousand (30,000) and municipalities with a population not more than five thousand (5,000) according to the 2010 federal decennial census, and there shall be no deduction by the State Aid Engineer for administrative expenses of the Office of State Aid Road Construction. Unexpended amounts remaining in the special fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned on amounts in the fund shall be deposited to the credit of the fund.

(3) Each county or municipality that receives monies from the State-assisted County and Municipality Road Construction and Maintenance Fund shall establish a special fund in the county or municipal treasury; and all monies received by the county or municipality from the State-assisted County and Municipality Road Construction and Maintenance Fund, along with any other available monies that the county or municipality may designate, shall be deposited into the special fund of the county or municipality. Monies in the county or municipal special fund may not be expended for any purpose except for expenses related to the construction, reconstruction, overlaying, repair and maintenance of highways, roads and streets, including culvert and bridge replacement, within the county or municipality that are not included in the state highway system or in the state aid road system. Projects for which the State Aid Engineer distributes funds from the special fund created under subsection (2) of this section are not required to meet the construction, reconstruction, overlay, repair or maintenance requirements for state aid roads. The State Department of Audit shall have authority and responsibility to make annual audits and investigations of all funds deposited to and expended from such special fund of the county or municipality.

(4) A county or municipality may not receive a distribution of funds from the special fund created in subsection (2) of this section more than once in a three-year period. A county or municipality may only expend up to seventy-five percent (75%) of the cost of a particular project from funds distributed from the special fund created in subsection (2) of this section. A county or municipality may receive a maximum of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00) from the special fund created in subsection (2) of this section.

SECTION 2. Section 65-9-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

65-9-11. It shall be the duty of the State Aid Engineer to advise with the boards of supervisors of the several counties on all matters of policy, use of funds, priority of construction, uniform standards for state aid roads, safeguards in accounting methods, and other related matters and to cooperate with the several boards of supervisors on all matters connected with the laying out and construction of the state aid system of county roads. The State Aid Engineer shall promulgate, as soon as practicable, such uniform and reasonable rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to effectuate a proper designation of state aid roads to be constructed in each county, the methods for determining priority of construction, the making of surveys, and the preparation of plans and specifications for the construction of state aid roads, and to provide a uniform system of accounting in the expenditure of state aid road funds. The State Aid Engineer, after conferring with the Chief Engineer of the State Highway Department, shall prepare and promulgate uniform design standards and specifications for the construction of the state aid road system, which said uniform design standards and specifications may be modified or amended from time to time as the State Aid Engineer may deem necessary. Such standards may be in one or more classifications, according to types and kinds of roads. After such uniform design standards and specifications have been prepared and approved by the State Aid Engineer, the boards of supervisors shall apply the same to all new construction of state aid roads in their counties and, unless not practicable and feasible, to reconstruction of old roads on the state aid road system; but no deviation from such uniform standards and specifications shall be made without the approval of the State Aid Engineer.

It shall also be the duty of the State Aid Engineer to advise and cooperate with the boards of supervisors in the selection and designation of the county roads which are to be made a part of the state aid road system, as provided in this chapter, and to approve or disapprove the selection of roads to be made a part of the state aid road system by the boards of supervisors.

The State Aid Engineer shall finally approve or disapprove all contracts advertised and let by any board of supervisors for the construction or reconstruction of state aid roads and he shall approve or disapprove any or all force account estimates for such construction. If disapproved, he shall give a notice to said county of his disapproval and state each reason, and he shall give the said county time to cure the defects, or such parts thereof as may be necessary to cure, so that the county may receive its share of state aid.

All proposals covering work to be performed by any county with its own forces on state aid roads and all force account estimates submitted for approval shall be on forms prepared for the purpose by the State Aid Engineer. Such forms shall be in such detail and based upon such cost accounting rules and regulations as may be prescribed from time to time by the State Aid Engineer, but in no event shall the purchase of any road machinery or other general equipment out of the state aid road funds be allowed or permitted by such rules and regulations. Force account estimates may include a reasonable rental for machinery or equipment, and the reasonableness of the rental so estimated and as actually paid shall be subject at all times to modification, revision, approval, or disapproval of the State Aid Engineer and under the cost accounting rules and regulations promulgated by him.

The State Aid Engineer and such assistants as he may designate shall supervise and inspect all state aid road projects as the work progresses. Upon final completion of any such project, the State Aid Engineer shall cause a final inspection to be made of such project for the purpose of determining whether such project has been completed satisfactorily in accordance with the plans and specifications; and if satisfactorily completed, the State Aid Engineer shall approve payment of the final estimate on such project. No progress or final estimate, either on a contract or a force account project, shall be paid unless approved in such manner by the State Aid Engineer, and on all such contracts or force account projects a percentage of not less than two and one-half percent (2-1/2%) nor more than ten percent (10%) of each estimate thereon paid shall be retained until final acceptance of such project; provided, however, the amount retained by the prime contractor from each payment due the subcontractor shall not exceed the percentage withheld from the prime contractor.

The State Aid Engineer shall distribute, according to his discretion and upon legislative appropriation, the funds in the State-assisted County and Municipality Road Construction and Maintenance Fund created in subsection (1) of this act in a manner consistent with the provisions of subsection (1) of this act.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.