MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B
By: Senator(s) Watson
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-15-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE OFFENSE OF LITTERING AND CONFORM IT TO THE MORE SERIOUS OFFENSE OF IMPROPER SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-15-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-15-29. (1) (a)
Anyone who shall put, throw, dump or leave on the roads and highways of this
state, or within the limits of the rights-of-way of * * * the roads and highways, or upon any
private property, any cigarette or cigar stubs, or any other thing or substance
likely to ignite the grass or underbrush on a road or highway, in addition to
being civilly liable for all damages caused by such act shall, upon conviction,
be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as provided by subsection (3) of this
section.
(b) Unless placed in containers or areas lawfully provided therefor, anyone who shall put, throw, dump, leave, scatter, spill or place, or cause to be put, thrown, dumped, left, scattered, spilled or placed any cans, bottles, jars, glassware, broken glass, debris, garbage, paper products or other trash on the roads and highways of this state, including any portion of the right-of-way thereof, any other public lands or any private property, in an amount, volume or weight that does not constitute a solid waste violation under Section 97-15-30, is guilty of littering and shall, upon conviction, be punished as provided by subsection (3) of this section.
(2) The Department of
Transportation is authorized to erect warning signs along the roads and
highways of this state advising the public of the existence of this section and
of the penalty for the violation thereof and is further authorized to install
receptacles at reasonable intervals along the roads and highways of this state
to be used as containers for trash and rubbish and for the convenience of the
public using * * *
the roads and highways.
(3) Any person found guilty
of * * * a
violation of this section shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than Fifty
Dollars ($50.00) nor more than Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00). The
proceeds of * * *
the fines shall be expended by the collecting jurisdiction solely for
the purpose of funding local litter prevention programs or projects or local or
school litter education programs as recommended by the statewide litter
prevention program of Keep Mississippi Beautiful, Inc.
(4) As a part of the fine imposed by subsection (3) above, a person convicted for an offense upon which fines are imposed by this section may be required to perform the following, and a person convicted for a second or subsequent offense upon which fines are imposed by this section shall be required to:
(a) Remove or render harmless, in accordance with written direction, as appropriate, from the Department of Environmental Quality or local law enforcement authorities, the unlawfully discarded solid waste;
(b) Repair or restore property damaged by, or pay damages for any damage arising out of the unlawfully discarded solid waste;
(c) Perform community public service relating to the removal of any unlawfully discarded solid waste or to the restoration of any area polluted by unlawfully discarded solid waste; and
(d) Pay all reasonable
investigative and prosecutorial expenses and costs to the investigative * * * or prosecutorial agency or
agencies, or both.
(5) Upon a second or subsequent conviction of an offense upon which fines are imposed by this section, the minimum and maximum fines shall be doubled.
(6) When any litter is thrown or discarded from a motor vehicle, the operator of the motor vehicle shall be deemed in violation of this section.
(7) There shall be imposed
and collected an assessment of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) on each violation of this
section * * *
to be deposited with the Postsecondary Education Financial Assistance
Board to be used for the scholarship program for children of deceased or
disabled law enforcement officers and firemen as provided by Section 37-106-39.
(8) It shall be the duty of all law enforcement officers to enforce the provisions of this section.
(9) This section shall not prohibit the storage of ties and machinery by a railroad on its right-of-way where the highway right-of-way extends to within a few feet of the railroad roadbed.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2016.