Bill Text: MS HB1040 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Municipalities annexation; provide that an election be held on the question of.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-17 - Referred To Municipalities [HB1040 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-HB1040-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Municipalities
By: Representatives Eubanks, Hale, Keen
House Bill 1040
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR AN ELECTION ON THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION IN BOTH THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE TERRITORY PROPOSED TO BE ANNEXED WHEN THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES OF A MUNICIPALITY DESIRE TO ENLARGE ITS BOUNDARIES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-29, 21-1-31, 21-1-33, 21-1-35, 21-1-37 AND 21-1-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION FROM CHANCERY COURT PROCEEDINGS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 21-1-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-27. (1) (a)
The limits and boundaries of existing cities, towns and villages shall remain
as now established until altered in the manner hereinafter provided. When any
municipality * * *
desires to enlarge or contract * * * its boundaries * * * by adding * * * adjacent unincorporated territory to
its boundaries or excluding * * * from its boundaries any part
of the incorporated territory of * * * the municipality, the governing
authorities of such municipality shall pass an ordinance defining with
certainty the territory proposed to be included in or excluded from the
corporate limits, and also defining the entire boundary as changed. * * * If the municipality desires
to enlarge * * *
its boundaries, * * *
the ordinance shall in general terms describe the proposed improvements
to be made in the annexed territory, the manner and extent of such
improvements, and the approximate time within which such improvements are to be
made; such ordinance shall also contain a statement of the municipal or public
services which such municipality proposes to render in such annexed territory. * * * If the municipality * * * desires to contract its
boundaries, such ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for * * * the contraction and a statement
showing * * *
how the public convenience and necessity would be served thereby.
(b) If twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be annexed by a municipality petitions the governing body of the municipality for an election on the question of the proposed annexation, within sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the annexation ordinance, the appropriate election officials shall hold separate elections in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed on the question of the proposed annexation. The elections shall be held within sixty (60) days after certification of the petition by the municipal clerk. Notice of the elections shall be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks before the election date in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county or counties in which the municipality and the territory proposed to be annexed are located. The first publication shall be made not less than twenty-one (21) days before the election date. The elections shall be held in the same manner as are other elections. The annexation shall not be permitted or approved unless both the electors in the municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed approve the annexation by majority vote of those electors voting in the election. If fewer than a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall be approved. If a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall not be approved. If approved in the elections, the ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days after the date of the final determination of the results of the elections or on a later date that is specified in the ordinance. If a petition for the election is not filed, the ordinance shall become effective sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the ordinance or on a later date that is specified in the ordinance. If the ordinance is not approved in the elections, the municipality shall not adopt another ordinance proposing the annexation of any of the same territory for a period of five (5) years from the date of the election.
* * *
SECTION 2. Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-29. When any * * * ordinance * * * proposing to contract the municipal
boundaries is passed by the municipal authorities, * * * the municipal authorities shall
file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which * * * the municipality is located * * *. The petition shall recite the fact of the
adoption of * * *
the ordinance and shall pray that the * * * contraction of the municipal
boundaries * * * shall be ratified, approved and confirmed by the
court. There shall be attached to * * * the petition, as exhibits thereto,
a certified copy of the ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a
map or plat of the municipal boundaries as they will exist * * * if the
contraction becomes effective.
SECTION 3. Section 21-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-31. Upon the filing of * * * the petition and upon application
therefor by the petitioner, the chancellor shall fix a date certain, either in
term time or in vacation, when a hearing on * * * the petition will be held, and
notice * * *
of the hearing shall be given in the same manner and for the same length
of time as is provided in Section 21-1-15 with regard to the creation of
municipal corporations, and all parties interested in, affected by, or being
aggrieved by * * * the contraction shall have the right
to appear at such hearing and present their objection to * * * the
contraction. * * *
SECTION 4. Section 21-1-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-33. (1) If the
chancellor finds from the evidence presented at the hearing that the proposed * * * contraction is reasonable and is
required by the public convenience and necessity * * * and that the governing authority
of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the
chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the
proposed * * * contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as
altered. In so doing the chancellor shall have the right and the power to
modify the proposed * * * contraction by decreasing the territory to be included in or
excluded from the municipality, as the case may be.
(2) If the chancellor shall
find from the evidence that the * * * contraction * * * is unreasonable and is
not required by the public convenience and necessity, or in the event * * * the
governing authority of the municipality failed to comply with the provisions of
Section 21-1-27, then he shall enter a decree denying the * * * contraction.
(3) In any event, the
decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10)
days from the date * * *
of the decree or, in the event an appeal is taken therefrom, within ten
(10) days from the final determination of the appeal. In any proceeding under
this section the burden shall be upon the municipal authorities to show that
the proposed * * * contraction is reasonable.
SECTION 5. Section 21-1-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-35. * * * If no objection is made to
the petition for the * * * contraction of the municipal boundaries, the municipality shall
be taxed with all costs of the proceedings. * * * If the objection is made, * * * the costs may be taxed in * * * the manner * * * the chancellor shall determine to be
equitable pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. * * * If there is an appeal
from the judgment of the chancellor, the costs incurred in the appeal shall be
taxed against the appellant if the judgment * * * is affirmed, and against the appellee
if the judgment * * *
is reversed.
SECTION 6. Section 21-1-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-37. If the
municipality or any other interested person who was a party to the proceedings
in the chancery court * * *
is aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor regarding contraction of
the municipal boundaries, then * * * the municipality or other person
may prosecute an appeal * * *therefrom from the chancellor's decree within the time
and in the manner and with like effect as is provided in Section 21-1-21 in the
case of appeals from the decree of the chancellor with regard to the creation
of a municipal corporation.
SECTION 7. Section 21-1-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-39. (1)
Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality * * * are contracted, as
herein provided, the chancery clerk shall forward, after the expiration
of ten (10) days from the date of * * * the decree if no appeal be taken
therefrom, * * *
to the Secretary of State a certified copy of * * * the decree, which shall be filed in
the office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record
thereof. * * *
If an appeal * * *
is taken from * * *
the decree and such decree is affirmed, then the certified copy * * * of the decree shall be forwarded
to the Secretary of State within ten (10) days after receipt of the mandate
from the Supreme Court notifying the clerk of * * * the affirmance.
(2) Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality are enlarged as provided in Section 21-1-27, the governing body of the municipality, after the annexation ordinance has become effective, shall forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of the ordinance, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record thereof.
SECTION 8. Any action on an ordinance proposing the enlargement of municipal boundaries that is pending before a court on the effective date of this act as a result of any prior law shall be withdrawn, and an election as provided in Section 21-1-27 may be held.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
