Senate Bill 2770

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE GOVERNOR, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR AND ANY OTHER APPOINTING AUTHORITY SHALL GIVE DUE REGARD TO RACE AND GENDER IN MAKING APPOINTMENTS TO STATE AGENCY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS, AND SHALL GIVE DUE REGARD TO THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF APPOINTMENTS ACROSS THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI AND THE REAL POSSIBILITY OF MISSISSIPPI'S CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS BEING REDUCED FROM FOUR TO THREE; TO PROVIDE THAT MEMBERS OF STATE AGENCY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS SHALL GIVE DUE REGARD TO RACE AND GENDER IN SENDING DESIGNEES TO MEETINGS; TO SPECIFY THE STATE AGENCY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS TO WHICH THIS ACT APPLIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) Effective with any appointment to a state agency board, commission or council made after January 1, 2017, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or any other appointing authority shall (a) give due regard to race and gender in making the appointment in order to meet the goal of twenty-five percent (25%) minority and female membership on the board, commission or council; and (b) give due regard to the geographical distribution of appointments across the State of Mississippi and the real possibility of Mississippi's Congressional Districts being reduced from four (4) to three (3).

(2) Any member of a state agency board, commission or council who is authorized to send a designee to a meeting of the board, commission or council shall give due regard to race and gender in making the designation in order to meet the goal of twenty-five percent (25%) minority and female designees attending such meetings, and shall give due regard to the geographical distribution of appointments across the State of Mississippi and the real possibility of Mississippi's Congressional Districts being reduced from four (4) to three (3).

(3) State boards, commissions and councils subject to the provisions of this act are as follows: State Board of Accountancy; Mississippi Leadership Council on Aging; Air Ambulance Service Board; State Board of Animal Health; State Board of Architecture; Department of Archives and History; Mississippi Commission on Arts; Athletic Commission; Mississippi Auctioneer Commission; Department of Banking and Consumer Finance; State Board of Banking Review; Board of Bar Admissions; State Board of Barber Examiners; The Jefferson Davis Shrine, Board Beauvoir; Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration Commission; Mississippi Industries for the Blind; Mississippi Blues Commission; Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Board; State Bond Commission; Mississippi Building Codes Council; Mississippi Business Finance Corporation; Capital Defense Counsel; Capitol City Convention Center Commission; Central Market Board; Chickasawhay Natural Gas District Board; Board of Chiropractic Examiners; Civil Rights Education Commission; Civil War Battlefield Commission; Claiborne County Port Commission; Mississippi Coast Coliseum Commission; Commission on College Accreditation; College Savings Plan of Mississippi; Commercial Mobile Radio Service Board; State Board of Contractors; Mississippi Corn Promotion Board; Department of Corrections; State Board of Cosmetology; Board of Examiners for Licensed Counselors; Crime Stoppers Advisory Council; Board of Dental Examiners; Mississippi Executive Director Development Authority; Development Disabilities Planning Council; Division of Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board; Early Learning Collaboration Grant Program; EdNet Institute; Council for Education Technology; Department of Education; Educational Television Authority; Egg Marketing Board; State Board of Election Commissioners; Electronic Protection Licensing Advisory Board; Emergency Management Agency (MEMA); Board of Emergency Telecommunications Standards and Training; Department of Employment Security Executive Director; Mississippi Board of Licensure for Engineers and Land Surveyors; Environmental Quality Permit Board; Department of Environmental Quality, Commissioners; Ethics Commission; Mississippi Fair Commission; Department of Finance and Administration; Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory; Board of Registration for Foresters; Mississippi Forestry Commission; State Board of Funeral Service; Mississippi Gaming Commission; Registered Professional Geologists Board; Grand Gulf Military Monument Commission; Greenville Port Commission; Mississippi Guaranty Pool Board; Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission; Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission; Hattiesburg-Laurel Airport Authority; Board of Directors Health Care Trust Fund and Health Care Expendable Funds; State and Public School Employees Health Insurance Management Board; State Department of Health; Mississippi Historical Preservation Professional Review Board; Mississippi Commission on Holocaust; Mississippi Home Corporation; Home Inspector Regulatory Board; Hospital Equipment and Facilities Authority; Department of Human Services; Mississippi Humanities Council; Statewide Independent Living Council; Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services; Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning; Department of Insurance; Jackson County Port Authority; Board on Jail Officer Standards and Training; Mississippi Judicial Advisory Study Committee; Commission on Judicial Performance; Land, Water and Timber Resources Board; Landscape Architecture Advisory Committee; Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training; Joint Legislative Budget Committee; Mississippi Levee Board; Mississippi Library Commission; Local Government Records Committee; Mississippi Department of Marine Resources; State Board of Massage Therapy; Division of Medicaid; Mississippi Medical Care Advisory Committee; Board of Medical Licensure; Department of Mental Health; Motor Vehicle Commission; Director of Narcotics Bureau; Nursing Home Administrators; Mississippi Board of Nursing; State Oil and Gas Board; State Board of Optometry; State Parole Board; Pat Harrison Waterway District Commission; Peanut Promotion Board; Pearl River Valley Water Supply District; Pearl River Basin Development District; Pearl River Industrial Commission; Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER); State Personnel Board; Division of Medicaid's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee; State Board of Pharmacy; Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness and Sports; State Board of Physical Therapy; Bureau of Plant Industry; Polygraph Examiners Board; Prison Industry Corporation Board; State Board of Psychology; Mississippi Public Broadcasting Board; Public Employees' Retirement System; Department of Public Safety; Mississippi Public Service Commission; Mississippi Radiation Advisory Council; Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control Board; Real Estate Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board; Real Estate Commission; State Rehabilitation Council; State Department of Rehabilitation Services; Coordinating Council for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems; Rice Promotion Board; Mississippi River Parkway Commission; Road Protection Commission; State Seed Board; Small Business Compliance Advisory Panel; Board of Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists; Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission; Southeast Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Commission; Council on Southern Community; Southern Global Strategies Council; Southern Growth Policies Board; Southern Rapid Rail Transit Commission; Southern Technology Council; Soybean Promotion Board; State Port Authority at Gulfport; Department of Revenue Board of Appeals; Tennessee-Tombigbee Water Development Authority; Tobacco Control Advisory Council; Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District; Tombigbee Valley Authority; Mississippi Tort Claims Board; Transportation Commission Appeals Board; State Transportation Department; Mississippi Trauma Advisory Committee; Uniform State Law; Veterans Affairs Board; Veterans Home Purchase Board; Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium Commission; State Board of Veterinary Medicine; Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service; War Veterans Memorial Commission; Warren County Port Commission; Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks; Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women; Workers' Compensation Commission; State Workforce Compensation Board; Yazoo County Port Commission; Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District and Yellow Creek State Inland Port Authority.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.