MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2024 Regular Session

To: Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Wiggins, Barrett

Senate Bill 2285

(As Passed the Senate)

AN ACT TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 45-1-12, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH IS THE PROVISION OF LAW THAT SETS OUT THE SALARY SCHEDULE OF OFFICERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI HIGHWAY PATROL AND THE MISSISSIPPI BUREAU OF NARCOTICS, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 45-3-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH IS THE PROVISION OF LAW THAT ESTABLISHES THE "DAVID R. HUGGINS ACT," FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

     SECTION 1.  Section 45-1-12, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

     45-1-12.  (1)  The salaries of all officers of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol who have completed the course of instruction in an authorized highway patrol training school on general law enforcement, and are serving as a sworn officer of the Highway Patrol in the enforcement of the laws of the State of Mississippi, including service in any other division of the Department of Public Safety, and the sworn law enforcement officers of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, shall be determined and paid in accordance with the scale for officers salaries as provided in this subsection:

Department of Public Safety Sworn Officers Salary Schedule

Rank                    Years of Experience

             Less than 4     Over 4       Over 8        Over 12

Trooper       46,950

Trooper FC                   49,700

Corporal                                  52,450

Sergeant                                                 55,200

Rank                    Years of Experience

              Over 16        Over 20       Over 24       Over 29

Staff Sgt.     57,950

Sr. Staff Sgt.               60,700

Sgt. 1st Class                            63,700 

                                                        66,800

Rank                    Years of Experience

            Over 5  Over 10  Over 15  Over 20  Over 25   Over 29

Master Sgt.                 

            60,700   63,450   66,200   68,950   71,700    74,450

Lieutenant                  

            69,750   72,500   75,250   78,000   80,750    83,750

Captain                           

                     82,000   85,000   88,000   91,000    94,000

Major                                   

                             94,000   97,000  100,000   103,000

Lt. Colonel                             

                            103,000  106,000  109,000   112,000

Colonel                                 

                            119,500   119,500  119,500   119,500

Department of Public Safety/MS Bureau of Narcotics

Sworn Officers Salary Schedule

Rank                    Years of Experience

             Less than 4     Over 4       Over 8        Over 12

LE-Agent I    46,950

LE-Agent II                  49,700

LE-Agent III                               52,450

LE-Agent IV                                              55,200

Rank                    Years of Experience

              Over 16        Over 20       Over 24       Over 29

LE-Agent V     57,950

LE-Agent VI                  60,700

Rank                    Years of Experience

             Over 7  Over 12  Over 17  Over 22  Over 27  Over 32

Lieutenant                  

            69,750   72,500   75,250   78,000   80,750    83,750

Captain                   

            82,000   85,000   88,000   91,000   94,000

Major                  

            94,000   97,000  100,000  103,000

Lt. Colonel                    

                    103,000  106,000  109,000  112,000

Colonel                                 

                            119,500  119,500  119,500   119,500

     (2)  All sworn officers in the Mississippi Highway Patrol and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics employed on a full-time basis shall be paid a salary in accordance with the above scale.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, any rank of any sworn officer not based upon a merit-based promotion or years of experience shall be at the will and pleasure of the appointing authority as approved by the State Personnel Board.  The rank and years of experience of each sworn officer to be used in establishing the salary shall be determined by the rank and years of experience on July 1 of the current fiscal year.

     (3)  For purposes of applying the rank designation to the above scale, the following job classifications of the State Personnel Board shall be applicable for the Mississippi Highway Patrol:

Rank                              Job Classes

(a)  Trooper                 DPS-Highway Patrol Officer I

                             LE-Investigator II

(b)  Trooper First Class      DPS-Highway Patrol Officer II

                             LE-Investigator III

(c)  Corporal                DPS-Highway Patrol Officer III

                             LE-Investigator IV

(d)  Sergeant                 DPS-Highway Patrol Officer IV

                             LE-Investigator V

(e)  Staff Sergeant           DPS-Highway Patrol Officer V

(f)  Senior Staff Sergeant    DPS-Highway Patrol Officer VI

                             Tech Spec

(g)  Master Sgt/Sgt. F/C      DPS-Assistant Inspector

                            DPS-Highway Patrol Officer VII

                             DPS-Investigator I

                             DPS-Supv. Driver Serv.

(h)  Lieutenant              DPS-Air Operations Officer

                             DPS-Dir. Corr. Intelligence

                             DPS-Dist. Executive Officer

                             DPS-Regional Supv. Driver. Serv.

                             DPS-Branch Director

                             LE-Dir/Training

                             LE-Dist. Investigator

(i)  Captain                 DPS-Staff Officer (MHP)

(j)  Major                   DPS-Bureau Director II

(k)  Lt. Colonel             DPS-Deputy Administrator;

                             DPS-Chief of Staff

(l)  Colonel/Chief of Patrol  Dir-Office of MS Hwy Safety Patrol

     (4)  For purposes of applying the rank designation to the above scale, the following job classifications of the State Personnel Board shall be applicable for the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics:

Rank                         Job Classes

(a)  Agents                  LE-Agent I

                            LE-Agent II

                             LE-Agent III

                             LE-Agent IV

                             LE-Agent V

                             LE-Agent VI

(b)  Lieutenant              BN-District Investigator (LT)

(c)  Captain                 BN-District Commander

(d)  Major                   BN-Bureau Director II

                             Office Director I

(e)  Lt. Colonel             BN-Deputy Administrator

(f)  Colonel                 Director, Bureau of Narcotics

     (5)  In any fiscal year after July 1, 2015, in the event the Legislature provides across-the-board salary increases to state employees whose compensation is paid from the State General Fund and subject to specific appropriation therefor by the Legislature, the State Personnel Board shall revise the salary scale above to provide the same percentage or dollar amount increase as has been appropriated for other state employees.

     (6)  It shall be the duty of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to file with the Legislative Budget Office and the State Fiscal Officer such data and information as may be required to enable the said Legislative Budget Office and State Fiscal Officer to budget and distribute the funds necessary to compensate the sworn officers of the Department of Public Safety according to the requirements of the salary scale.  Such data and information so filed may be revised from time to time as necessitated to reflect the current number and experience of sworn officers employed by the department.

     (7)  The Commissioner of Public Safety, with approval by the State Personnel Board, is authorized to set the salaries equitably of sworn law enforcement officers assigned to the Commercial Transportation Enforcement Division and Capitol Police based upon the pay scale contained in this section.

     SECTION 2.  Section 45-3-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

     45-3-7.  (1)  The commissioner is authorized to employ not exceeding six hundred fifty (650) persons as a Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol within the Department of Public Safety.  All positions and salaries heretofore authorized and set by statute under the commissioner shall after April 20, 1981, be made part of the State Personnel System and shall be governed by the laws, rules and regulations thereof.

     (2)  The commissioner shall grant an additional One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per month for special flying assignments to patrol officers who are licensed commercial pilots.

     (3)  It is the direction of the Legislature that all Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) nonexempt sworn officers of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol who are working one hundred seventy-one (171) hours in a twenty-eight-day work cycle be compensated based on the annual salary established by the State Personnel Board for a one-hundred-sixty-hour per month schedule divided by two thousand eighty-seven and one hundred forty-three one thousandths (2,087.143), for an hourly rate, to be multiplied by two thousand two hundred twenty-three (2,223) or one hundred seventy-one (171) hours in a twenty-eight-day work cycle for a new annual salary.  All hours worked over one hundred seventy-one (171) hours in a twenty-eight-day schedule shall be governed by the FLSA or other special compensation plan.  All realignments after July 1, 2010, shall be calculated using this formula.  This subsection shall be known as the "David R. Huggins Act."

     SECTION 3.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.