MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2021 Regular Session
To: Universities and Colleges
By: Senator(s) Kirby
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-29-65, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THAT AFTER JULY 1, 2021, OPERATION AND CONTROL OF THE HINDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT AND COLLEGE SHALL BE VESTED IN A BOARD OF TRUSTEES REPRESENTING EACH OF THE FIVE COUNTIES LYING WITHIN ITS DISTRICT; TO PROVIDE FOR THE NUMBER OF TRUSTEES EACH COUNTY SHALL HAVE ON THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR THE DISTRICT; TO PREVENT ANY SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION WITHIN THE DISTRICT FROM SERVING ON THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES; TO AMEND SECTION 37-29-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT COPIAH COUNTY SHALL BE IN HINDS COMMUNITY COLLEGE'S DISTRICT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-29-65, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-29-65. (1) Except as provided in this section and in Sections 37-29-409, 37-29-457 and 37-29-505, there shall be five (5) trustees from each county of the junior college district which originally entered into and gave financial aid in establishing the junior college. On June 30, 1992, the offices of the six (6) trustees from each of the original counties in the Northwest Community College District shall stand vacated. The board of supervisors of those respective counties shall appoint two (2) members on July 1, 1992, to serve full terms of office as provided in this section. The board of supervisors of those respective counties shall appoint one (1) member who is a qualified elector from each supervisors district to serve as a member, either of which may be the county superintendent of education if he or she resides in a respective supervisors district. Counties which subsequent to the establishment of the junior college joined the district shall have only one (1) trustee. However, the board of trustees so constituted, by appropriate resolution, may enlarge its number to six (6) trustees from each county. The board of trustees shall also be authorized within its discretion to reduce its number to two (2) trustees at large from each county. In any case in which there is an equal number of trustees the board of trustees may appoint another person to membership.
(2) The county superintendent, if appointed by the county board of supervisors, may, in his discretion, choose not to serve as a member of such board of trustees. Such decision not to serve shall be in writing and entered on the minutes of the board of trustees of the junior college district. The county board of supervisors of any county whose county superintendent of education appointed under the authority of this section, declines the appointment or resigns, pursuant to this subsection (2), shall fill the vacancy caused by such resignation by appointing a member who is a qualified elector of the county at large in accordance with subsection (6) of this section. No county superintendent whose school district is located within the East Mississippi Community College District shall serve on the board of trustees for that community college district.
(3) From and after March 24, 1990, the Board of Trustees of the East Mississippi Community College District shall consist of twelve (12) members. The appointing authorities shall appoint a new board of trustees as follows: Clay County shall be entitled to two (2) members, Kemper County shall be entitled to two (2) members, Lauderdale County shall be entitled to two (2) members, Lowndes County shall be entitled to two (2) members, Noxubee County shall be entitled to two (2) members and Oktibbeha County shall be entitled to two (2) members. No member of the Board of Trustees of the East Mississippi Community College District shall have served on such board prior to March 24, 1990.
(4) The Board of Trustees of the Coahoma Community College District shall consist of nine (9) members. The appointing authorities shall appoint the new board of trustees as follows: Coahoma County shall be entitled to five (5) members appointed in the manner provided herein, Tunica County shall be entitled to one (1) member, Quitman County shall be entitled to one (1) member, Bolivar County shall be entitled to one (1) member, and Tallahatchie County shall be entitled to one (1) member. Persons who are currently serving as members of the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Delta Community College District or Northwest Community College District shall be eligible for appointment to the board.
(5) (a) From and after July 1, 2021, the operation and control of the Hinds Community College District and the college operated therein shall be vested in a board of trustees representing each of the five (5) counties lying within the district. The Boards of Supervisors from Hinds, Rankin, Warren, Claiborne and Copiah counties shall serve as the appointing authority for their respective counties. The appointing authorities shall appoint trustees from the counties at large in order to achieve equitable representation of the counties in the college's service area.
(b) The board of trustees shall consist of fifteen (15) members. The appointing authorities shall appoint the new board of trustees as follows: Hinds County shall be entitled to five (5) members, Rankin County shall be entitled to four (4) members, Warren County shall be entitled to three (3) members, Claiborne County shall be entitled to one (1) member and Copiah County shall be entitled to one (1) member. There shall be one (1) additional at-large member of the board who shall be selected by the members of the Board of Trustees and who shall reside alternatively in Claiborne and Copiah counties, with the initial appointment to be made from Claiborne County for a term of five (5) years. No Superintendent of Education whose school district is located within the Hinds Community College District shall serve on the board of trustees.
(c) The delineation and enumeration of the powers and purposes set out in this section shall be deemed to be supplemental and additional and shall not be construed to restrict the powers of the governing authorities of the district or of any college or campus located therein so as to deny any of the rights, privileges and powers enjoyed by other junior colleges and junior college districts in the State of Mississippi.
( * * *6) The terms of office shall be five
(5) years; however, upon the first selection of trustees in each county, one
(1) shall be elected for a term of five (5) years, one (1) for a term of four
(4) years, one (1) for a term of three (3) years, one (1) for a term of two (2)
years, and one (1) for a term of one (1) year, so as to prevent the retirement
of more than one (1) member of any one (1) county in any one (1) year. Where
the board chooses or is required by statute to reduce its number, the board
shall specify the expiration dates of such terms of office in order to prevent
the retirement of more than one (1) member of any one (1) county in any one (1)
year.
( * * *7) The board of supervisors shall
elect the requisite number of discreet persons of good moral character,
sufficient education and experience, and of proven interest in public
education, who are qualified electors of the county, as trustees of the junior
college; and annually thereafter the board of supervisors in like manner shall
fill vacancies. All trustees so appointed shall be listed in the minutes of
the board of supervisors and their appointment shall be certified by the
chancery clerk to the president of the junior college.
( * * *8) Each junior college trustee may be
paid, out of junior college funds, a per diem as authorized in Section 25-3-69,
Mississippi Code of 1972, per meeting of said board and, in addition thereto,
the mileage authorized under Section 25-3-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, per
mile in coming to and returning from said meeting, calculated upon the
customary and normally traveled route from the home of such trustee to the campus
of said junior college. Such allowance of per diem and mileage shall not,
however, be allowed for more than fifteen (15) meetings for any one (1) fiscal
year and shall only be paid for meetings actually attended by such trustees.
( * * *9) The provisions of this section,
other than those provisions pertaining to per diem compensation and travel
allowances for junior college trustees, shall not apply to any existing
publicly operated junior college, lying in and operated by a county bordering
on the Mississippi River, and the junior college trustees of such junior
college shall be appointed and confirmed as heretofore.
( * * *10) No county superintendent of
education, by virtue of his or her office, shall be automatically placed on the
board of trustees for any community college district to which this section
applies. The number of trustees from each county shall be reduced by one (1)
member if such member is superintendent of education. However, if the county
board of supervisors, in making an appointment to the community college
district board of trustees, chooses to appoint the county superintendent of
education at the expiration of the term of the at large member, the
superintendent may serve, unless otherwise disqualified.
SECTION 2. Section 37-29-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-29-31. There are hereby created the following junior college districts comprising the entire counties therein named and having boundaries coinciding with the external boundaries thereof, each of which shall be separate juristic entities and bodies politic and corporate:
(a) East Central Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott and Winston.
(b) East Mississippi Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Clay, Kemper, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha.
(c) Hinds * * * Community College District shall
be comprised of the counties of Hinds, Rankin, Warren, Copiah and
Claiborne.
(d) Holmes Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Holmes, Madison, Montgomery, Webster and Yazoo.
(e) Itawamba Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Chickasaw, Itawamba, Lee, Monroe and Pontotoc.
(f) Jones County Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Clarke, Covington, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Perry, Smith and Wayne.
(g) Mississippi Delta Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Bolivar, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Sharkey, Sunflower and Washington.
(h) Northeast Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Alcorn, Prentiss, Tippah, Tishomingo and Union.
(i) Northwest Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Benton, Calhoun, DeSoto, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica and Yalobusha.
(j) Pearl River Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Forrest, Hancock, Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Marion and Pearl River.
(k) Southwest Junior College District shall be comprised of the counties of Amite, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.