MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2018 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Senator(s) Younger
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 29-3-27 AND 29-3-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS TO SELL SIXTEENTH SECTION SCHOOL LAND FOR COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE SAME CONDITIONS THAT THEY ARE AUTHORIZED TO SELL SUCH LAND FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT INCLUDING THE CONDITION THAT LAND OF COMPARABLE VALUE BE PURCHASED BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 29-3-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-27. No sixteenth section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, situated within the school district holding or owning the same shall ever be sold, except that the board of education may, under the procedures hereinafter provided, sell such lands for industrial development thereon or for commercial development thereon, therein, or thereunder to any persons, firms, or corporations in fee simple, or any lesser estate therein, for a purchase price not less than the fair market value thereof; and when any such sale is made, the deed shall be executed in the name of the State of Mississippi by the superintendent of the said board of education, approved by majority vote of the board.
As used in this section and in Sections 29-3-29 and 29-3-61, the term "industrial development" shall include restoration as a tourist attraction the place where an organization was founded, which said organization has since been expanded to be national or international in its membership, scope, and influence.
As used in this section and in Sections 29-3-29 and 29-3-61, the term "industrial development" shall also include the consolidation of multiple parcels, each less than one hundred sixty (160) acres and not to exceed three hundred twenty (320) acres total, of forested sixteenth section lieu land as originally contained in Indemnity List 1 of School Sections approved February 26, 1859, and located in the same county as its controlling school district. Said consolidated parcels shall be utilized to facilitate significant timber industry research. This provision shall stand repealed on December 31, 2016.
As used in this section the term "commercial development" shall include use as commercial land defined in Section 29-3-33(d), to include land suitable for wholesale or retail businesses, financial institutions, professional offices and clinics, service trades and occupations, grocery stores, hotels, restaurants, privately owned public utilities, condominiums, apartment building complexes, and similar businesses.
The proceeds of the sale in fee simple of any sixteenth section, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, or such part of said proceeds as may be required to purchase acreage of equivalent fair market value, shall be used by the board of education, to purchase other land in the county, which land shall be held in the name of and reserved by the State of Mississippi for the support of the township schools in lieu of the land thus sold, as other sixteenth section lieu land is held, and shall be subject to all laws applicable thereto. Every such sale and every such purchase of land in lieu thereof shall be reported by the secretary of the board of education to the Secretary of State and to the State Forestry Commission within ninety (90) days after the consummation of each such sale and purchase. Any funds from a sale in fee simple of any sixteenth section land, or land granted in lieu thereof, in excess of any amount used to purchase said land in lieu thereof, shall be treated as corpus and shall be invested by the board of education as provided by law. Only the income from such investment shall be expended for current operating expenses of the schools.
SECTION 2. Section 29-3-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-29. Before any sixteenth section school land or land granted in lieu thereof may be sold or leased for industrial development thereon or for commercial development thereon, therein or thereunder under the provisions of this chapter, the board of education controlling such land shall first determine that such sale or lease will be fair market value. In the determination of the fair market value of said land the comparative sales method shall be used, and the highest and best use of said sixteenth section lands shall be determined on the basis of finding that said land shall be susceptible to any use that comparative land in private ownership may be used, that there will be prompt and substantial industrial development or prompt and substantial commercial development on, in, or under said land after the sale or lease, that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, and that such sale or lease will be beneficial to and in the best interest of the schools of the district for which said land is held. All of said findings, including the amount of the sale price or gross rental for said land, shall be spread on the minutes of the board of education. Also, if the board of education proposes to sell said land, said board shall first enter into a contract or obtain a legal option to purchase, for a specified price not in excess of fair market value, other land in the county of acreage of equivalent fair market value, and such contract or option shall be spread on the minutes of said board. However, not more than one hundred (100) acres in any one (1) sixteenth section school lands in any county may be sold under this chapter for the purpose of being made an industrial park or a part of such industrial park or for a commercial development center or project or a part of such commercial development center or project, provided the provisions of this section and Sections 57-5-1 and 57-5-23 are fully complied with.
A certified copy of the
resolution or order of the board of education, setting out the foregoing
findings, together with a certified copy of the order approving and setting out
the terms of the contract or option to purchase other lands where a sale of
land is proposed and an application to the * * * Secretary
of State for the certificate authorizing said sale or lease, shall be
forwarded to the county board of supervisors, which board shall make an
independent investigation of the proposed sale or lease and of the proposed
purchase of other land.
If said county board of supervisors shall concur in the finding of fact of the board of education, and shall find that it is to the best interests of the schools of the district to enter into such sale or lease, it may enter on its minutes a resolution or order approving the action of the board of education.
If the said county board of supervisors shall not concur in the findings of the board of education, or shall find that the proposed sale or lease will not be in the best interest of the schools of the district, then it may, by resolution or order, disapprove the proposed sale or lease, and such action may be appealed to the Secretary of State who shall approve or disapprove the proposed sale or lease and that such action shall be final.
Except as otherwise
permitted by Section 57-75-37(4)(f), there shall be reserved all minerals in,
on, and under any lands conveyed under the provisions hereof. Provided,
however, that in any county bordering on the State of Alabama, traversed by the
Tombigbee River, in which U.S. Highway 82 intersects U.S. Highway 45 and in
which is situated a state-supported institution of higher learning, upon
the sale of any sixteenth section lands for industrial purposes or
commercial development as provided by law, the board of education, the
superintendent of education and the Mississippi * * * Development
Authority, may sell and convey all minerals except oil, gas, sulphur and
casinghead gas on, in and under the said sixteenth section lands so sold for
industrial purposes or commercial development. Said oil, gas, sulphur
and casinghead gas shall be reserved together with such rights of use, ingress
and egress as shall not unreasonably interfere with the use of the lands by the
purchaser. Prior written approval for such use, ingress and egress, shall be
obtained from the surface owner or, if such approval is unreasonably withheld,
may be obtained from the chancery court of the county in which said land is
located.
Certified copies of the
resolutions or orders of the board of supervisors and of the board of education
and of the application to the Mississippi * * * Development
Authority shall be transmitted to the county * * *
board of supervisors, who, if * * * it approves the proposed sale or
lease, shall so certify and forward same to the Mississippi * * * Development
Authority. * * *
Any board of education whose district embraces the entire county shall
so certify and transmit said copies to the Mississippi * * * Development
Authority for further action.
Upon receipt of the
aforesaid application and certified copies of the said resolution and orders,
the Mississippi * * * Development Authority shall make
investigation to determine whether or not the proposed sale or lease of said
land will promote prompt and substantial industrial development or
commercial development thereon, therein, or thereunder. If the board finds
that such sale or lease will promote prompt and substantial industrial
development or commercial development thereon, therein or thereunder,
and further finds that the person, firm or corporation who proposes to
establish said industry or commercial development project is financially
responsible, and that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the
amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future
expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, then the * * * Mississippi Development Authority,
in its discretion, may issue a certificate to the board of education of said
district so certifying, and said certificate shall be the authority for the
board of education to enter into the proposed sale or lease. If the Mississippi * * * Development
Authority does not so find, then it shall decline to issue said certificate
which action shall be final.
The Mississippi * * * Development
Authority, when issuing a certificate to the * * * board of education certifying its
findings and authorizing said sale or lease, may, nevertheless, in its
discretion, make such sale or lease conditioned on and subject to the vote of
the qualified electors of said school district. Upon receipt of a
certificate so conditioned upon an election, or upon a petition as hereinafter
provided for, the board of education, by resolution spread upon its minutes,
shall forward a copy of the certificate to the board of supervisors who by resolution
upon its minutes, shall call an election to be held in the manner now provided
by law for holding county elections, and shall fix in such resolution a date
upon which such an election shall be held, of which not less than three (3)
weeks notice shall be given by the clerk of said board of supervisors by
publishing a notice in a newspaper published in said * * * school district once each week
for three (3) consecutive weeks preceding the same, or if no newspaper is
published in said county, then in a newspaper having a general circulation
therein, and by posting a notice for three (3) weeks preceding said election at
three (3) public places in said * * * school district. At such
election, all qualified voters of the * * * school district may vote, and the
ballots used shall have printed thereon a brief statement of the proposed sale
or lease of said land, including the description and price, together with the
words "For the proposed sale or lease" and the words "Against the
proposed sale or lease," and the voter shall vote by placing a cross (x)
or check (ü) opposite his choice
of the proposition. Should the election provided for herein result in
favor of the proposed sale or lease by at least * * * a majority of the
votes cast being in favor of the said proposition, the board of supervisors
shall notify the board of education who may proceed forthwith to sell or lease
said land in accordance with the proposition so submitted to the electors. If
less than * * * a majority of those voting in such special election
vote in favor of the said sale or lease, then said land shall not be sold or
leased.
The board of education shall
further be required, prior to passing of a resolution expressing its intent to
sell said land, to publish a notice of intent to sell said land for three (3)
consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in said * * * school district or, if there be
none, in a newspaper having a general circulation in said * * * school district, and to post
three (3) notices thereof in three (3) public places in said * * * school district, one (1) of which
shall be at the courthouse, for said time. If within the period of three (3)
weeks following the first publication of said intent, a petition signed by
twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of said * * * school district shall be filed
with the board of supervisors requesting an election concerning the sale, then
an election shall be called as hereinabove provided.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.