MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Ways and Means
By: Representative Smith
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 27-19-99, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT LICENSE PLATES AND DECAL FEES SHALL BE DEPOSITED INTO THE STATE GENERAL FUND; TO AMEND SECTION 27-19-155, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; TO REPEAL SECTION 27-19-179, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH CREATES THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE LICENSE TAG ACQUISITION FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 27-19-99, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-19-99. (1) The Department of Revenue shall furnish the tax collector of each county a sufficient supply of license tags or plates and a sufficient supply of license receipts with which to make the collection of the taxes imposed by the provisions of this article, which such tax collectors are required to collect. The license tag receipts shall be on forms prescribed by the department. Upon the payment of the taxes and fees required by this article, the tax collector shall issue the license receipt in the form prescribed by the department. The department shall keep account against the tax collector for the license taxes and fees collected. The tax collector shall keep a similar account.
(2) The tax collector shall, at the end of each month or within twenty (20) days thereafter, pay into the county road fund all privilege taxes collected by him during the preceding month upon motor vehicle privilege licenses which he is entitled to issue, less the county's commission.
(3) The tax collector shall keep a record of the information furnished by the owners of each motor vehicle registered. The record shall be made in numerical order by tag number or decal number, whichever is appropriate. At the end of each month, or within twenty (20) days thereafter, the tax collector shall submit to the department a copy of such record, together with the copy of each registration receipt, and shall, at the same time, remit to the department the registration fee for each license tag or decal sold by him during the preceding month. When the tax collector shall have complied with the provisions of this section and shall have forwarded to the department, within the time specified, all reports required of him hereunder, he shall then be entitled to retain five percent (5%) of the registration fees imposed in Section 27-19-43(3)(a) and (b), to be paid into the county general fund; otherwise the county's commission shall be forfeited. The five percent (5%) shall not apply to any additional registration fee imposed above the amounts imposed in Section 27-19-43(3)(a) and (b). The department shall keep a record from the duplicates filed by the tax collectors of all registered vehicles.
(4) Counties that use their existing computer system to communicate all data regarding vehicle title and registration transactions to the state's central computer system shall be allotted Fifty Cents (50¢) for each registration fee collected by the county and remitted to the Department of Revenue. Such communication must successfully pass any edit features and successfully create or update title/registration records on the network system. This amount paid to the county shall be deposited into the county general fund to be expended only for costs incurred for the purchase of equipment, software, maintenance, or other costs directly related to the title/registration network system, and for education and training.
(5) All monies remitted to
the department by tax collectors as registration or tag fees from the portion
of the rate imposed in Section 27-19-43(3)(a) and (b), and all monies received
by the department directly as registration or tag fees from the portion of the
rate imposed in Section 27-19-43(3)(a) and (b) * * *
shall be paid by the department into the General Fund of the State Treasury on
the first day of the month succeeding the month in which such fees are received
by the department.
* * *
( * * *6) Except as otherwise provided in
Section 31-17-127, all monies remitted to the department by tax collectors as
registration or tag fees from the additional rate of Five Dollars ($5.00) and
all monies received by the department directly as registration or tag fees from
the additional rate of Five Dollars ($5.00) shall be paid into the State
Treasury to the credit of the State Highway Fund for the construction or
reconstruction of highways designated under the highway program created under
Section 65-3-97.
SECTION 2. Section 27-19-155, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-19-155. The license or number tag herein provided for shall be purchased by the License Tag Commission, composed of the Governor, Commissioner of Revenue, Attorney General and the State Treasurer, upon competitive bids, after having given three (3) weeks' notice of the time and place of purchase, by publishing said notice in at least three (3) newspapers, at least one (1) of which shall be published in the State of Mississippi, for a period of three (3) weeks prior to the date of purchase. The successful bidder shall enter into a bond with some surety company, authorized to do business in the state, as surety thereon, payable to the State of Mississippi, in a sum equal to the amount of his contract, conditioned for the faithful and prompt carrying out of said bid, and, in the event of the failure to comply with the terms of said contract, the amount of said bond shall be forfeited as liquidated damages and may be recovered by the Attorney General in any appropriate action. The License Tag Commission is hereby authorized and empowered to renegotiate any contract entered into for the purchase of license tags in order to obtain any other or additional tags necessitated by the passage of this article.
All monies received by the * * * Department of Revenue
as registration or tag fees, either from the tax collectors, or from licenses
issued by the * * * Department of Revenue, shall be paid into the
State Treasury on the same day in which such funds are collected by the * * * Department of Revenue.
* * *
SECTION 3. Section 27-19-179, Mississippi Code of 1972, which creates the License Tag Acquisition Fund, is hereby repealed.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.