MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division B; Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Barrett
AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 45-27-22, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI JUSTICE INFORMATION CENTER TO ESTABLISH A MISDEMEANOR WARRANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM TO ENABLE CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCIES TO ELECTRONICALLY TRACK MISDEMEANOR WARRANTS BETWEEN JURISDICTIONS AS THE WARRANTS ARE ISSUED, SERVED AND RECALLED; TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO PROMULGATE RULES AND REGULATIONS; TO REQUIRE ALL CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCIES AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF COURTS TO ASSIST THE MISSISSIPPI JUSTICE INFORMATION CENTER AND THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MISDEMEANOR WARRANT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM; TO AMEND SECTIONS 45-27-1, 45-27-3, 45-27-7, 45-27-12 AND 9-21-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 45-27-22, Mississippi Code of 1972:
45-27-22. (1) The center shall establish a misdemeanor warrant management system to enable criminal justice agencies to electronically track misdemeanor warrants between jurisdictions as the warrants are issued, served and recalled. The misdemeanor warrant system shall be available for use by criminal justice agencies no later than January 1, 2025.
(2) The department shall promulgate any rules and regulations necessary to implement the misdemeanor warrant management system.
(3) All criminal justice agencies and the Administrative Office of Courts shall assist the center and the department in the establishment of the misdemeanor warrant management system.
SECTION 2. Section 45-27-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-27-1. The Legislature
finds and declares that a more effective administrative structure now is required
to control the collection, storage, dissemination and use of criminal offender
record information. These improvements in the organization and control of
criminal offender record keeping are imperative both to strengthen the
administration of criminal justice and to assure appropriate protection of
rights of individual privacy. The purposes of this chapter are (a) to control
and coordinate criminal offender record keeping within this state; (b) to
assure periodic reporting to the Governor and Legislature concerning such
record keeping; (c) to enable criminal justice agencies to track misdemeanor
warrants between jurisdictions as the warrants are issued, served and recalled;
and ( * * *d)
to establish a more effective administrative structure for the collection,
maintenance, retrieval and dissemination of criminal history record information
described in this chapter, consistent with those principles of scope and
security prescribed by this chapter, and to facilitate the practical use of
criminal offender record information within the criminal justice system.
SECTION 3. Section 45-27-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-27-3. For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless the context requires otherwise:
(a) "Criminal justice agencies" means public agencies at all levels of government which perform as their principal function activities relating to the apprehension, prosecution, adjudication or rehabilitation of criminal offenders.
(b) "Offense" means an act which is a felony or a misdemeanor.
(c) "Justice information system" means those agencies, procedures, mechanisms, media and forms, as well as the information itself, which are or become involved in the origination, transmittal, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information related to reported offenses and offenders, and the subsequent actions related to the events or persons.
(d) "Criminal justice information" means the following classes of information:
(i) "Secret data," which includes information dealing with those elements of the operation and programming of the Mississippi Justice Information Center computer system and the communications network and satellite computer systems handling criminal justice information which prevents unlawful intrusion into the system.
(ii) "Criminal history record information," which means information collected by criminal justice agencies on individuals consisting of identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions, indictments, affidavits, information or other formal charges and any disposition arising therefrom, sentencing, correctional supervision and release. The term does not include identification information such as fingerprint records or images to the extent that the information does not indicate involvement of the individual in the criminal justice system.
(iii) "Sensitive data," which contains statistical information in the form of reports, lists and documentation which may identify a group characteristic, such as "white" males or "stolen" guns.
(iv) "Restricted data," which contains information relating to data-gathering techniques, distribution methods, manuals and forms.
(v) "Law enforcement agency" or "originating agency" or "agency" which includes a governmental unit or agency composed of one or more persons employed full time or part time by the state as a political subdivision thereof for the following purposes: (A) the administration of criminal justice, which includes the prevention and detection of crime; the apprehension, pretrial release, post-trial release, prosecution, adjudication, correctional supervision or rehabilitation of accused persons or criminal offenders; or the collection, storage and dissemination of criminal history record information; or (B) the enforcement of state laws or local ordinances, which includes making arrests for crimes while acting within the scope of their authority. The agency must perform one or more of the above-described criminal justice duties and allocate a substantial part of its annual budget to the administration of criminal justice.
(e) "Center" means the Mississippi Justice Information Center or the Mississippi Criminal Information Center.
(f) "Department" means the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
(g) "Conviction information" means criminal history record information disclosing that a person was found guilty of, or has pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to, a criminal offense in a court of law, together with any sentencing information. This includes a conviction in a federal or military tribunal, including a court martial conducted by the Armed Forces of the United States, or a conviction for an offense committed on an Indian Reservation or other federal property, or any court of a state of the United States.
(h) "Nonconviction information" means arrest without disposition information if an interval of one (1) year has elapsed from the date of arrest and no active prosecution for the charge is pending, as well as all acquittals and all dismissals.
(i) "Arrest card" means the initial law enforcement agency documentation of an arrest, whether in physical or digital form, including fingerprint information.
(j) "Disposition form" means the form prescribed by rule of the Justice Information Center for a court or law enforcement agency to report the disposition of the case of a person who has been arrested.
(k) "Disposition" means the outcome of the case of a person who was arrested and includes, without limitation:
(i) Nonadjudication;
(ii) A verdict or plea of guilt;
(iii) A plea of nolo contendere;
(iv) A verdict of not guilty;
(v) Dismissal;
(vi) Nolle prosequi;
(vii) Remand to the file;
(viii) Expunction; or
(ix) An appeal.
(l) "Misdemeanor warrant management system" means the warrant system established by the center as provided in Section 45-27-22 to include those agencies, procedures, mechanisms, media and forms, as well as the information itself, which are or become involved in the origination, transmittal, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information related to misdemeanor warrants.
SECTION 4. Section 45-27-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-27-7. (1) The Mississippi Justice Information Center shall:
(a) Develop, operate and maintain an information system which will support the collection, storage, retrieval and dissemination of all data described in this chapter, consistent with those principles of scope, security and responsiveness prescribed by this chapter.
(b) Cooperate with all criminal justice agencies within the state in providing those forms, procedures, standards and related training assistance necessary for the uniform operation of the statewide center.
(c) Offer assistance and, when practicable, instruction to all local law enforcement agencies in establishing efficient local records systems.
(d) Make available, upon request, to all local and state criminal justice agencies, to all federal criminal justice agencies and to criminal justice agencies in other states any information in the files of the center which will aid such agencies in the performance of their official duties. For this purpose the center shall operate on a twenty-four-hour basis, seven (7) days a week. Such information, when authorized by the director of the center, may also be made available to any other agency of this state or any political subdivision thereof and to any federal agency, upon assurance by the agency concerned that the information is to be used for official purposes only in the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension of criminal offenders.
(e) Cooperate with other agencies of this state, the crime information agencies of other states, and the national crime information center systems of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in developing and conducting an interstate, national and international system of criminal identification and records.
(f) Make available, upon request, to nongovernmental entities or employers certain information for noncriminal justice purposes as specified in Section 45-27-12.
(g) Institute necessary measures in the design, implementation and continued operation of the justice information system to ensure the privacy and security of the system. Such measures shall include establishing complete control over use of and access to the system and restricting its integral resources and facilities and those either possessed or procured and controlled by criminal justice agencies. Such security measures must meet standards developed by the center as well as those set by the nationally operated systems for interstate sharing of information.
(h) Provide data processing for files listing motor vehicle drivers' license numbers, motor vehicle registration numbers, wanted and stolen motor vehicles, outstanding warrants, identifiable stolen property and such other files as may be of general assistance to law enforcement agencies; provided, however, that the purchase, lease, rental or acquisition in any manner of "computer equipment or services," as defined in Section 25-53-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be subject to the approval of the Mississippi Information Technology Services.
(i) Maintain a field coordination and support unit which shall have all the power conferred by law upon any peace officer of this state.
(j) Establish the misdemeanor warrant management system as provided in Section 45-27-22.
(2) The department, including the investigative division or the center, may:
(a) Obtain and store fingerprints, descriptions, photographs and any other pertinent identifying data from crime scenes and on persons who:
(i) Have been or are hereafter arrested or taken into custody in this state:
1. For an offense which is a felony;
2. For an offense which is a misdemeanor;
3. As a fugitive from justice; or
(ii) Are or become habitual offenders; or
(iii) Are currently or become confined to any prison, penitentiary or other penal institution; or
(iv) Are unidentified human corpses found in the state; or
(v) Have submitted fingerprints for conducting criminal history record checks.
(b) Compare all fingerprint and other identifying data received with that already on file and determine whether or not a criminal record is found for such person, and at once inform the requesting agency or arresting officer of those facts that may be disseminated consistent with applicable security and privacy laws and regulations. A record shall be maintained for a minimum of one (1) year of the dissemination of each individual criminal history, including at least the date and recipient of such information.
(c) Establish procedures to respond to those individuals who file requests to review their own records, pursuant to Sections 45-27-11 and 45-27-12, and to cooperate in the correction of the central center records and those of contributing agencies when their accuracy has been successfully challenged either through the related contributing agencies or by court order issued on behalf of an individual.
(d) Retain in the system the fingerprints of all law enforcement officers and part-time law enforcement officers, as those terms are defined in Section 45-6-3, any fingerprints sent by the Mississippi State Department of Health, and of all applicants to law enforcement agencies.
(3) There shall be a presumption that a copy of any document submitted to the center in accordance with the provisions of Section 45-27-9 that has been processed as set forth in this chapter and subsequently certified and provided by the center to a law enforcement agency or a court shall be admissible in any proceeding without further authentication unless a person objecting to that admissibility has successfully challenged the document under the provisions of Section 45-27-11.
SECTION 5. Section 45-27-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
(a) To any local, state or federal governmental agency that requests the information for the enforcement of a local, state or federal law;
(b) To any individual, nongovernmental entity or any employer authorized either by the subject of record in writing or by state or federal law to receive such information; and
(c) To any federal agency or central repository in another state requesting the information for purposes authorized by law.
(2) State conviction information and arrest information which is contained in the center's misdemeanor warrant management system or the nonexistence of such information in the center's misdemeanor warrant management system shall be made available for the following criminal justice purposes to any local, state or federal governmental agency, to include criminal justice agencies, that requests the information.
( * * *3) Information disseminated for noncriminal
justice purposes as specified in this section shall be used only for the purpose
for which it was made available and may not be re-disseminated.
( * * *4) No agency or individual shall confirm
the existence or nonexistence of criminal history record information to any person
or organization that would not be eligible to receive the information pursuant to
this section.
( * * *5) Upon request for a check pursuant to
this section, the nongovernmental entity or employer must provide proper identification
and authorization information from the subject of the record to be checked and adhere
to policies established by the center for such record checks.
( * * *6) Any individual or his attorney who is
the subject of the record to be checked, upon positive verification of the individual's
identity, may request to review the disseminated information and shall follow the
procedure set forth in Section 45-27-11. If the individual wishes to correct the
record as it appears in the center's system, the person shall follow the procedure
set forth in Section 45-27-11. The right of a person to review the person's criminal
history record information shall not be used by a prospective employer or others
as a means to circumvent procedures or fees for accessing records for noncriminal
justice purposes.
( * * *7) The center may impose procedures, including
the submission of fingerprints, fees or restrictions, as are reasonably necessary
to assure the record's security, to verify the identities of those who seek to inspect
them, and to maintain an orderly and efficient mechanism for access. All fees shall
be assessed and deposited in accordance with the provisions of Section 45-27-8.
( * * *8) The center shall (a) retain, separate
from other division records, personal information, including any fingerprints, sent
to it by the Mississippi Department of Health; and (b) notify the Department of
Health upon receiving notice that an individual for whom personal information has
been retained is the subject of: (i) a warrant for arrest; (ii) an arrest; (iii)
a conviction, including a plea in abeyance; or (iv) a pending diversion agreement.
( * * *9) The center is authorized to implement
the Rap-Back criminal history records check system, and the Department of Health
is authorized to implement and to utilize the state/federal Rap-Back criminal history
system as a method of ongoing monitoring of individuals providing such care to Mississippi's
vulnerable population in "covered" entities including prospective designated
caregivers and entities named in the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act and to apply
for and provide matching funds in order for Mississippi to receive federal grants
to make necessary upgrades to the department's data systems to accommodate Rap-Back
capabilities.
( * * *10) Local agencies may release their own
agency records according to their own policies.
( * * *11) Release of the above-described information
for noncriminal justice purposes shall be made only by the center, under the limitations
of this section, and such compiled records will not be released or disclosed for
noncriminal justice purposes by other agencies in the state.
SECTION 6. Section 9-21-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
9-21-3. (1) The Administrative Office of Courts shall be specifically charged with the duty of assisting the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Mississippi with his duties as the chief administrative officer of all courts of this state, including, without limitation, the task of insuring that the business of the courts of the state is attended with proper dispatch, that the dockets of such courts are not permitted to become congested and that trials and appeals of cases, civil and criminal, are not delayed unreasonably.
(2) The office shall also perform the following duties:
(a) To work with the clerks of all youth courts and civil and criminal trial courts in the state to collect, obtain, compile, digest and publish information and statistics concerning the administration of justice in the state.
(b) To serve as an agency to apply for and receive any grants or other assistance and to coordinate and conduct studies and projects to improve the administration of justice by the courts of the state, and it may conduct such studies with or without the assistance of consultants.
(c) To supply such support to the Judicial Advisory Study Committee necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter, including, without limitation, research and clerical assistance.
(d) To promulgate standards, rules and regulations for computer and/or electronic filing and storage of all court records and court-related records maintained throughout the state in courts and in offices of circuit and chancery clerks.
(e) To assist the Mississippi Justice Information Center and the Department of Public Safety in the establishment of the misdemeanor warrant management system provided for in Section 45-27-22.
( * * *f) It shall perform such other duties
relating to the improvement of the administration of justice as may be assigned
by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.
SECTION 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.