MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency
By: Senator(s) Carmichael
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 25-9-107, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLASSIFY THE SECRETARY OF STATE AND STAFF MEMBERS OF THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE AS NONSTATE SERVICE EMPLOYEES FOR STATE PERSONNEL BOARD REQUIREMENTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 25-9-107, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-9-107. The following terms, when used in this chapter, unless a different meaning is plainly required by the context, shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Board" means the State Personnel Board created under the provisions of this chapter.
(b) "State service" means all employees of state departments, agencies and institutions as defined herein, except those officers and employees excluded by this chapter.
(c) "Nonstate service" means the following officers and employees excluded from the state service by this chapter. The following are excluded from the state service:
(i) Members of the State Legislature, their staff and other employees of the legislative branch;
(ii) The Governor and staff members of the immediate Office of the Governor;
(iii) Justices and judges of the judicial branch or members of appeals boards on a per diem basis;
(iv) The Lieutenant Governor, staff members of the immediate Office of the Lieutenant Governor and officers and employees directly appointed by the Lieutenant Governor;
(v) The Secretary of State and staff members of the immediate Office of the Secretary of State;
( * * *vi) Officers and officials elected by
popular vote and persons appointed to fill vacancies in elective offices;
( * * *vii) Members of boards and
commissioners appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or the State
Legislature;
( * * *viii) All academic officials,
members of the teaching staffs and employees of the state institutions of
higher learning, the Mississippi Community College Board, and community
and junior colleges;
( * * *ix) Officers and enlisted members
of the National Guard of the state;
( * * *x) Prisoners, inmates, student or
patient help working in or about institutions;
( * * *xi) Contract personnel; provided, that
any agency which employs state service employees may enter into contracts for
personal and professional services only if such contracts are approved in
compliance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the State Personal
Service Contract Review Board under Section 25-9-120(3). Before paying any
warrant for such contractual services in excess of One Hundred Thousand Dollars
($100,000.00), the Auditor of Public Accounts, or the successor to those
duties, shall determine whether the contract involved was for personal or
professional services, and, if so, was approved by the State Personal Service
Contract Review Board;
( * * *xii) Part-time employees; provided,
however, part-time employees shall only be hired into authorized employment
positions classified by the board, shall meet minimum qualifications as set by
the board, and shall be paid in accordance with the Variable Compensation Plan
as certified by the board;
( * * *xiii) Persons appointed on an
emergency basis for the duration of the emergency; the effective date of the
emergency appointments shall not be earlier than the date approved by the State
Personnel Director, and shall be limited to thirty (30) working days.
Emergency appointments may be extended to sixty (60) working days by the State
Personnel Board;
( * * *xiv) Physicians, dentists,
veterinarians, nurse practitioners and attorneys, while serving in their
professional capacities in authorized employment positions who are required by
statute to be licensed, registered or otherwise certified as such, provided
that the State Personnel Director shall verify that the statutory
qualifications are met prior to issuance of a payroll warrant by the Auditor;
( * * *xv) Personnel who are employed and
paid from funds received from a federal grant program which has been approved
by the Legislature or the Department of Finance and Administration whose length
of employment has been determined to be time-limited in nature. This
subparagraph shall apply to personnel employed under the provisions of the
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973, as amended, and other
special federal grant programs which are not a part of regular federally funded
programs wherein appropriations and employment positions are appropriated by
the Legislature. Such employees shall be paid in accordance with the Variable
Compensation Plan and shall meet all qualifications required by federal
statutes or by the Mississippi Classification Plan;
( * * *xvi) The administrative head who is
in charge of any state department, agency, institution, board or commission,
wherein the statute specifically authorizes the Governor, board, commission or
other authority to appoint said administrative head; provided, however, that
the salary of such administrative head shall be determined by the State
Personnel Board in accordance with the Variable Compensation Plan unless
otherwise fixed by statute;
( * * *xvii) The State Personnel Board
shall exclude top-level positions if the incumbents determine and publicly
advocate substantive program policy and report directly to the agency head, or
the incumbents are required to maintain a direct confidential working
relationship with a key excluded official. Provided further, a written job
classification shall be approved by the board for each such position, and
positions so excluded shall be paid in conformity with the Variable
Compensation Plan;
( * * *xviii) Employees whose employment
is solely in connection with an agency's contract to produce, store or
transport goods, and whose compensation is derived therefrom;
* * *
(xix) The associate director, deputy directors and bureau directors within the Department of Agriculture and Commerce;
(xx) Personnel employed by the Mississippi Industries for the Blind; provided, that any agency may enter into contracts for the personal services of MIB employees without the prior approval of the State Personnel Board or the State Personal Service Contract Review Board; however, any agency contracting for the personal services of an MIB employee shall provide the MIB employee with not less than the entry-level compensation and benefits that the agency would provide to a full-time employee of the agency who performs the same services;
(xxi) Personnel employed by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources as law enforcement trainees (cadets); such personnel shall be paid in accordance with the Colonel Guy Groff State Variable Compensation Plan.
(d) "Agency" means any state board, commission, committee, council, department or unit thereof created by the Constitution or statutes if such board, commission, committee, council, department, unit or the head thereof, is authorized to appoint subordinate staff by the Constitution or statute, except a legislative or judicial board, commission, committee, council, department or unit thereof.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.