House Bill 629

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-61-12, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT PUBLIC ENTITIES ACTING AS CUSTODIANS OF INFORMATION EXEMPTED UNDER THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REGARDING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL MUST REMOVE THE EXEMPTED INFORMATION FROM PUBLIC DISCLOSURE WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF RECEIVING NOTIFICATION FROM A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY OR MILITARY DEPARTMENT; TO AMEND SECTION 33-7-113, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT INFORMATION EXEMPTED UNDER THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REGARDING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL MUST NOT BE PUBLISHED BY THE ADJUTANT GENERAL; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-165, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXCLUDE INFORMATION EXEMPTED UNDER THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REGARDING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL FROM THE PUBLIC VOTER REGISTRATION FILES; TO AMEND SECTION 43-15-109, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXCLUDE INFORMATION EXEMPTED UNDER THE PUBLIC RECORDS ACT REGARDING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND MILITARY PERSONNEL FROM PUBLIC CHILD WELFARE INFORMATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 25-61-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-61-12. (1) (a) The home address, any telephone number of a privately paid account, social security number or other private information of any active or former law enforcement officer, active or former military personnel, criminal investigator, judge or district attorney or the spouse or child of the active or former law enforcement officer, active or former military personnel, criminal investigator, judge or district attorney shall be exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. This exemption does not apply to any court transcript or recording if given under oath and not otherwise excluded by law.

(b) Where the public records and private information of any active or former law enforcement officer or active or former military personnel are held by someone other than the appropriate law enforcement agency or military department, the appropriate law enforcement agency or military department shall provide written notification of the names of the individual officers and personnel to the public entity who is the custodian of such records so that the public entity can remove the exempted information from public disclosure.

(c) Upon receipt of the written notification from the law enforcement agency or military department, the public entity shall have not more than thirty (30) days to remove the exempted information from its public records, whether online or in print.

(d) The written notification to the public entity for any former law enforcement officer or military personnel shall be provided to the public entity by his or her former employer if the former employee requests the former employer to provide such notification. The former employer shall be required to provide notification to the public entity upon request by the former employee.

(e) Any public entity that receives notification from any law enforcement agency or military department shall keep such notification and any information contained within the notification confidential and exempt from any type of public disclosure.

(2) (a) When in the possession of a law enforcement agency, investigative reports shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter; however, a law enforcement agency, in its discretion, may choose to make public all or any part of any investigative report.

(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent any and all public bodies from having among themselves a free flow of information for the purpose of achieving a coordinated and effective detection and investigation of unlawful activity. Where the confidentiality of records covered by this section is being determined in a private hearing before a judge under Section 25-61-13, the public body may redact or separate from the records the identity of confidential informants or the identity of the person or persons under investigation or other information other than the nature of the incident, time, date and location.

(c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to exempt from public disclosure a law enforcement incident report. An incident report shall be a public record. A law enforcement agency may release information in addition to the information contained in the incident report.

(d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require the disclosure of information that would reveal the identity of the victim.

(3) Personal information of victims, including victim impact statements and letters of support on behalf of victims that are contained in records on file with the Mississippi Department of Corrections and State Parole Board, shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter.

(4) Records of a public hospital board relating to the purchase or sale of medical or other practices or other business operations, and the recruitment of physicians and other health care professionals, shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter.

SECTION 2. Section 33-7-113, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

33-7-113. The Adjutant General shall publish annually a relative rank list of all officers in the Mississippi National Guard. The published list shall not contain any information that is exempt from public disclosure under Section 25-61-12. Commissions or warrants of officers shall bear date of actual appointment by the Governor. Officers of each grade shall rank and take precedence according to the date of federal recognition of their respective commissions or warrants, and when two or more of the same grade are of the same date, their rank and precedence shall be determined by the length of service, continuous or otherwise, in the Mississippi National Guard or in the Armed Forces of the United States; and if for equal service, then by age, the older being the senior, provided, that an officer will not be credited with time spent on the state reserve or retired list in determining his lineal rank in the active list.

SECTION 3. Section 23-15-165, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-165. (1) From and after July 1, 2002, the Office of the Secretary of State, in cooperation with the local registrars and election commissioners, shall begin to procure, implement and maintain an electronic information processing system and programs capable of maintaining a centralized database of all registered voters in the state. The system shall encompass software and hardware, at both the state and county level, software development training, conversion and support and maintenance for the system. This system shall be known as the "Statewide Elections Management System" and shall constitute the official record of registered voters in every county of the state.

(2) The Office of the Secretary of State shall develop and implement the Statewide Elections Management System so that the registrar and election commissioners of each county shall:

(a) Verify that an applicant that is registering to vote in such county is not registered to vote in another county;

(b) Be notified automatically that a registered voter in its county has registered to vote in another county;

(c) Receive regular reports of death, changes of address and convictions for disenfranchising crimes that apply to voters registered in the county; and

(d) Retain all present functionality related to, but not limited to, the use of voter roll data and to implement such other functionality as the law requires to enhance the maintenance of accurate county voter records and related jury selection and redistricting programs.

(3) As a part of the procurement and implementation of the system, the Office of the Secretary of State shall, with the assistance of the advisory committee, procure services necessary to convert current voter registration records in the counties into a standard, industry accepted file format that can be used on the Statewide Elections Management System. Thereafter, all official voter information shall be maintained on the Statewide Elections Management System. The standard industry accepted format of data shall be reviewed and approved by a majority of the advisory committee created in subsection (5) of this section after consultation with the Circuit Clerks Association and the format may not be changed without majority approval of the advisory committee and without consulting the Circuit Clerks Association.

(4) The Secretary of State may, with the assistance of the advisory committee, adopt rules and regulations necessary to administer the Statewide Elections Management System. Such rules and regulations shall at least:

(a) Provide for the establishment and maintenance of a centralized database for all voter registration information in the state;

(b) Provide procedures for integrating data into the centralized database;

(c) Provide security to insure that only the registrar, or his designee or other appropriate official, as the law may require, can add information to, delete information from and modify information in the system;

(d) Provide the registrar or his designee or other appropriate official, as the law may require, access to the system at all times, including the ability to download copies of the industry standard file, for all purposes related to their official duties, including, but not limited to, exclusive access for the purpose of printing of all local pollbooks;

(e) Provide security and protection of all information in the system and monitor the system to ensure that unauthorized access is not allowed;

(f) Provide a procedure that will allow the registrar, or his designee or other appropriate official, as the law may require, to identify the precinct and subprecinct to which a voter should be assigned; and

(g) Provide a procedure for phasing in or converting existing manual and computerized voter registration systems in counties to the Statewide Elections Management System.

(5) The Secretary of State shall establish an advisory committee to assist in developing system specifications, procurement, implementation and maintenance of the Statewide Elections Management System. The committee shall include two (2) representatives from the Circuit Clerks Association, appointed by the association; two (2) representatives from the Election Commissioners Association of Mississippi, appointed by the association; one (1) member of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors, or its staff, appointed by the association; the Director of the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University, or his designee; the Executive Director of the Department of Information Technology Services, or his designee; two (2) persons knowledgeable about elections and information technology appointed by the Secretary of State; and the Secretary of State, who shall serve as the chairman of the advisory committee.

(6) (a) Social security numbers, telephone numbers, * * *~~and~~ date of birth and age information, and home addresses of any active or former law enforcement officer, any active or former military personnel and the spouse or child of the active or former law enforcement officer or active or former military personnel in statewide, district, county and municipal voter registration files shall be exempt from and shall not be subject to inspection, examination, copying or reproduction under the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983.

(b) Copies of statewide, district, county or municipal voter registration files, excluding social security numbers, telephone numbers, * * *~~and~~ date of birth and age information, and home addresses of any active or former law enforcement officer, any active or former military personnel and the spouse or child of the active or former law enforcement officer or active or former military personnel shall be provided to any person in accordance with the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 at a cost not to exceed the actual cost of production.

SECTION 4. Section 43-15-109, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-15-109. (1) An application for a license under this article shall be made to the division and shall contain information that the division determines is necessary in accordance with established rules.

(2) Except for the home address, any telephone number of a privately paid account, social security number or other private information of any active or former law enforcement officer, active or former military personnel, and the spouse or child of the active or former law enforcement officer or active or former military personnel, information received by the office through reports, complaints, investigations and inspections shall be classified as public in accordance with Title 25, Chapter 61, Mississippi Code of 1972, Mississippi Public Records Act.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.