Senate Bill 2552

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-17-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL MAY MAKE REVISIONS TO AN INITIATIVE AS MAY BE DEEMED NECESSARY AND APPROPRIATE; TO PROVIDE THAT NEW LANGUAGE BE UNDERLINED AND EXISTING LANGUAGE BE DENOTED BY ASTERISK SYMBOLS; TO PROVIDE FOR AN APPEAL OF THE REVISIONS; TO AMEND SECTION 23-17-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE TEXT OF THE AMENDMENT BE PLACED ON THE BALLOT; TO AMEND SECTION 23-17-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-17-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-17-5. Upon receipt of any proposed initiative measure, the Secretary of State shall submit a copy of the proposed measure to the Attorney General and give notice to the person filing the proposed measure of such transmittal. Upon receipt of the measure, the Attorney General may confer with the person filing the proposed measure and shall within ten (10) working days from receipt thereof review the proposal for matters of form and style, and * * *~~such~~ matters of substantive import * * * and shall recommend such revision or alteration of the measure as may be deemed necessary and appropriate. If the proposed measure amends a current section of the Constitution, new language that is being added shall be underlined and existing language that is being deleted shall be denoted by the insertion of three (3) asterisk symbols. The * * * person filing the proposed measure may accept or reject * * *~~them~~ the recommendations of the Attorney General in whole or in part. The Attorney General shall issue a certificate of review certifying that he has reviewed the measure for form and style and that the recommendations thereon, if any, have been communicated to the person filing the proposed measure, and such certificate shall issue whether or not the person filing the proposed measure accepts such recommendations. If any person is dissatisfied with the revisions of the Attorney General, he may appeal as provided in Section 23-17-13 for an appeal of the title and summary. Within fifteen (15) working days after notification of submittal of the proposed initiative measure to the Attorney General, the person filing the proposed measure, if he desires to proceed with his sponsorship, shall file the measure together with the certificate of review with the Secretary of State for assignment of a serial number and the Secretary of State shall thereupon submit to the Attorney General a certified copy of the measure filed. Upon submitting the proposal to the Secretary of State for assignment of a serial number the Secretary of State shall refuse to make such assignment unless the proposal is accompanied by a certificate of review.

SECTION 2. Section 23-17-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-17-9. Within seven (7) calendar days after the receipt of an initiative measure, the Attorney General shall formulate and transmit to the Secretary of State a concise statement posed as a question and not to exceed twenty (20) words, bearing the serial number of the measure and a summary of the measure, not to exceed seventy-five (75) words, to follow the statement. The statement shall give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure. Neither the statement nor the summary may intentionally be an argument, nor likely to create prejudice, either for or against the measure. Such concise statement shall constitute the ballot title. The ballot title formulated by the Attorney General shall be the ballot title of the measure unless changed on appeal. When practicable, the question posed by the ballot title shall be written in such a way that an affirmative answer to such question and an affirmative vote on the measure would result in a change in then current law, and a negative answer to the question and a negative vote on the measure would result in no change to then current law.

In addition to the ballot title and summary of initiative measures, the full text of each measure shall be on the ballot.

SECTION 3. Section 23-17-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-17-13. If any person is dissatisfied with the ballot title or summary formulated by the Attorney General, * * *~~he or she~~ or the revisions formulated by the Attorney General under Section 23-17-5, the person may, within five (5) days from the publications of the ballot title and summary by the office of the Secretary of State, appeal to the circuit court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County by petition setting forth the measure, the title or summary or revisions formulated by the Attorney General, and * * *~~his or her~~ the objections to the ballot title or summary or revisions and requesting amendment of the title or summary or revisions by the court.

A copy of the petition on appeal together with a notice that an appeal has been taken shall be served upon the Secretary of State, upon the Attorney General and upon the person proposing the measure if the appeal is initiated by someone other than that person. Upon the filing of the petition on appeal or at the time to which the hearing may be adjourned by consent of the appellant, the court shall accord first priority to examining the proposed measure, the title or summary or revisions prepared by the Attorney General and the objections to that title or summary or revisions. The court may hear arguments, and, within ten (10) days, shall render its decision and file with the Secretary of State a certified copy of such ballot title or summary as it determines will meet the requirements of Section 23-17-9 or the revisions as it determines will meet the requirements of Section 23-17-5. The decision of the court shall be final.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.