MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Transportation
By: Representative Wallace
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-15-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO CREATE RULES AND REGULATIONS TO DETERMINE; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 47-5-431 AND 47-5-433, WHICH AUTHORIZE USE OF PRISONERS IN COUNTY JAILS TO PICK UP TRASH, FOR PURPOSES OF AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-15-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-15-29. (1) Anyone who shall put, throw, dump or leave on the roads and highways of this state, or within the limits of the rights-of-way of such roads and highways, or upon any private property, any cigarette or cigar stubs, or any other thing or substance likely to ignite the grass or underbrush on a road or highway, in addition to being civilly liable for all damages caused by such act shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as provided by subsection (3) of this section.
(2) (a) The Department of Transportation is authorized to erect warning signs along the roads and highways of this state advising the public of the existence of this section and of the penalty for the violation thereof and is further authorized to install receptacles at reasonable intervals along the roads and highways of this state to be used as containers for trash and rubbish and for the convenience of the public using such roads and highways.
(b) The Department of Transportation is authorized to create rules and regulations which allow the department to determine the identity of the owner of any items found as described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) on the roads and highways of this state, or within the limits of the rights-of-way of such roads and highways, or upon any private property, and assess the fines authorized by this section.
(3) Any person found guilty
of the violation of this section shall, upon conviction, be fined * * * Eight Hundred Dollars ($800.00).
The proceeds of such fines shall be expended by the collecting jurisdiction
solely for the purpose of funding local litter prevention programs or projects
or local or school litter education programs as recommended by the statewide
litter prevention program of Keep Mississippi Beautiful, Inc.
(4) As a part of the fine imposed by subsection (3) above, a person convicted for an offense upon which fines are imposed by this section may be required to perform the following, and a person convicted for a second or subsequent offense upon which fines are imposed by this section shall be required to:
(a) Remove or render harmless, in accordance with written direction, as appropriate, from the Department of Environmental Quality or local law enforcement authorities, the unlawfully discarded solid waste;
(b) Repair or restore property damaged by, or pay damages for any damage arising out of the unlawfully discarded solid waste;
(c) Perform community public service relating to the removal of any unlawfully discarded solid waste or to the restoration of any area polluted by unlawfully discarded solid waste; and
(d) Pay all reasonable investigative and prosecutorial expenses and costs to the investigative and/or prosecutorial agency or agencies.
(5) Upon a second or subsequent conviction of an offense upon which fines are imposed by this section, the minimum and maximum fines shall be doubled.
(6) When any litter is thrown or discarded from a motor vehicle, the operator of the motor vehicle shall be deemed in violation of this section.
(7) There shall be imposed
and collected an assessment of * * * Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00)
on each violation of this section. The assessment shall be deposited into the
Law Enforcement Officers Monument Fund created in Section 39-5-71. After the
monument is constructed, the assessment shall not be deposited into the fund.
The assessment shall then be deposited with the Postsecondary Education Financial
Assistance Board to be used for the scholarship program for children of
deceased or disabled law enforcement officers and firemen as provided by
Section 37-106-39.
(8) It shall be the duty of all law enforcement officers to enforce the provisions of this section.
(9) This section shall not prohibit the storage of ties and machinery by a railroad on its right-of-way where the highway right-of-way extends to within a few feet of the railroad roadbed.
SECTION 2. Section 47-5-431, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
47-5-431. (1) The sheriff may, in his discretion, use any person who has been convicted of a nonviolent felony and who is serving all or any part of his sentence in the county jail to pick up trash along public roads and state highways within the county.
(2) County inmates performing work under this section shall be eligible for earned time credit in the same manner as state inmates. State inmates shall be eligible for earned time credit in the same manner as other inmates confined or detained in state prisons or other state correctional facilities.
(3) Any inmate escaping while participating in the work described herein shall receive an additional five-year sentence.
SECTION 3. Section 47-5-433, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
47-5-433. The State * * * Transportation Commission may furnish
vehicles along state highways to pick up trash bagged by inmates.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.