MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2026 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency
By: Representative Mansell
AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 25-61-11.3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXEMPT FROM THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC RECORDS ACT OF 1983 CERTAIN DOCUMENTS IN WHICH OPINIONS ARE EXPRESSED OR POLICIES FORMULATED IN AN AGENCY'S DELIBERATIVE PROCESS TO FORMULATE NEW POLICY; TO AMEND SECTION 25-61-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 25-61-11.3, Mississippi Code of 1972:
25-61-11.3. The following information shall be exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983:
(a) Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations and intra-agency or interagency memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended in the pre-decisional and deliberative process by an agency, or two (2) or more agencies working together, to formulate a new policy.
(b) Information is only protected under this exemption if it is pre-decisional and deliberative. Purely factual material in a deliberative document is exempted under this section only if:
(i) It is inextricably intertwined with the deliberative portions of the document so that it cannot reasonably be segregated;
(ii) It would reveal the nature of the deliberative portions; or
(iii) Its disclosure would in some other way make possible an intrusion into the decision-making process of the agency or agencies.
SECTION 2. Section 25-61-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-61-5. (1) (a) Except as otherwise provided by Sections 25-61-9, 25-61-11, 25-61-11.2, 25-61-11.3 and 37-153-7, all public records are hereby declared to be public property, and any person shall have the right to inspect, copy or mechanically reproduce or obtain a reproduction of any public record of a public body in accordance with reasonable written procedures adopted by the public body concerning the cost, time, place and method of access, and public notice of the procedures shall be given by the public body, or, if a public body has not adopted written procedures, the right to inspect, copy or mechanically reproduce or obtain a reproduction of a public record of the public body shall be provided within one (1) working day after a written request for a public record is made. No public body shall adopt procedures which will authorize the public body to produce or deny production of a public record later than seven (7) working days from the date of the receipt of the request for the production of the record.
(b) If a public body is unable to produce a public record by the seventh working day after the request is made, the public body must provide a written explanation to the person making the request stating that the record requested will be produced and specifying with particularity why the records cannot be produced within the seven-day period. Unless there is mutual agreement of the parties, in no event shall the date for the public body's production of the requested records be any later than fourteen (14) working days from the receipt by the public body of the original request.
(2) If any public record contains material which is not exempted under this chapter, the public agency shall redact the exempted material and make the nonexempted material available for examination. Such public agency shall be entitled to charge a reasonable fee for the redaction of any exempted material, not to exceed the agency's actual cost.
(3) Denial by a public body of a request for access to or copies of public records under this chapter shall be in writing and shall contain a statement of the specific exemption relied upon by the public body for the denial. Each public body shall maintain a file of all denials of requests for public records. Public bodies shall be required to preserve such denials on file for not less than three (3) years from the date such denials are made. This file shall be made available for inspection or copying, or both, during regular office hours to any person upon written request.
(4) Where any public body is preparing or conducting a competitive procurement, the time limitations contained in this section shall be tolled until the public body determines it will not issue the procurement, cancels the procurement or issues a notice naming its intended awardee.
(5) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2028.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.