MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2021 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Representative Bell (65th)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-7-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE CONFEDERATE FLAG FROM THE PROHIBITION ON DESECRATING CERTAIN NATIONAL AND STATE FLAGS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-7-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-7-39. Any person who, in
any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any
word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature,
upon any flag, standard, color or ensign of the United States or state flag of
the State of Mississippi, * * *or ensign or Confederate flag, or shall expose or cause to be
exposed to public view any such flag, standard, color or ensign, upon which shall
be attached, appended, affixed or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture,
design or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature, or who shall expose to
public view, manufacture, sell, expose for sale, give away or have in
possession for sale or to give away, or for use for any purpose, any article or
substance, being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle of merchandise, or
article or things for carrying or transporting merchandise upon which, shall
have been printed, painted, attached or otherwise placed, a representation of
any such flag, standard, color or ensign, to advertise, call attention to,
decorate, mark or distinguish the article or substance, on which so placed, or
who shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon or cast contempt,
either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign, with the
intent to desecrate or dishonor such, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
conviction shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars
($1,000.00), or by imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or both, in
the discretion of the court; shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall
be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100.00) or by
imprisonment for not more than thirty (30) days, or both, in the discretion of
the court; and shall also forfeit a penalty in the discretion of the court, of
not more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each such offense, to be recovered
with costs in a civil action or suit, in any court having jurisdiction, and
such action or suit may be brought by and in the name of any citizen of this
state. Such penalty when collected, less the reasonable cost and expense of
action or suit, shall be paid into the treasury of this state. Two (2) or more
penalties may be sued for and recovered in the same action or suit. The words "flag,"
"standard," "color," or "ensign," as used in this
section, shall include any flag, standard, color, ensign or any picture or
representation of either thereof, made of any substance, or represented on any
substance, and of any size, evidently purporting to be, either of said flag,
standard, color or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a
representation of either thereof, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars,
and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or by which the person seeing
the same, without deliberation, may believe the same to represent the flag,
colors, standard or ensign of the United States of America or of the State of
Mississippi * * *.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.