Bill Text: MS HB1536 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Sixteenth section lands; revise certain provisions relating to responsibilities of local school board and Secretary of State as trustees of.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-23 - Died In Committee [HB1536 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2016-HB1536-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representative Gunn
House Bill 1536
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 29-3-1 AND 29-3-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE AS TRUSTEES OF SIXTEENTH SECTION LANDS AND LANDS GRANTED IN LIEU THEREOF AS THOSE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES APPLY SUCH LANDS WITH THE JURISDICTION OF THE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD; TO AMEND SECTION 29-3-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROCESS BY WHICH SIXTEENTH SECTION LANDS OR LANDS GRANTED IN LIEU THEREOF MAY BE SOLD OR LEASED AND THE DISBURSEMENT OF PAYMENTS TO THE LOCAL OF CERTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICTS SUBJECT TO CERTAIN CONDITIONS BEING MET FOR BY THE PURCHASER FOR AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AS PROVIDED BY THE PASSAGE OF HOUSE BILL NO. 1, 2016 FIRST EXTRAORDINARY SESSION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 29-3-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-1. (1) Sixteenth
section school lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof, constitute property
held in trust for the benefit of the public schools and must be treated as
such. * * * Each
local board of education under the general supervision of the * * * Secretary of State,
shall have control and jurisdiction of * * * the school trust lands within
the school district of governance and of all funds arising from any
disposition thereof heretofore or hereafter made. The local board of
education and the Secretary of State are trustees of school trust lands within
the school district of governance and all funds arising therefrom, and it
shall be the duty of the local board of education and the Secretary
of State to manage the school trust lands within the school district of
governance and all funds arising therefrom as trust property. Accordingly,
the board shall assure that adequate compensation is received for all uses of
the trust lands, except for uses by the public schools.
(2) In the event the board of supervisors declines to approve the rental value of the land set by the board of education, the board of education shall within ten (10) days appoint one (1) appraiser, the board of supervisors shall within twenty (20) days appoint one (1) appraiser and the two (2) appraisers so appointed shall within twenty (20) days appoint a third appraiser whose duty it shall be to appraise the land, exclusive of buildings and improvements, the title to which is not held in trust for the public schools, and to file a written report with each board setting forth their recommendation for the rental value of the land within thirty (30) days. The cost of the appraisal shall be paid from any available sixteenth section school funds or other school funds of the district. If no appeal is taken within twenty (20) days as provided hereunder, the lease shall be executed in accordance with said recommended rental value within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the appraisers' report. In the event any party is aggrieved by the decision of the appraisers setting forth the appraised rental value, the party so aggrieved shall be entitled to an appeal to the chancery court in which the land is located. Such appeal shall be taken within twenty (20) days following the decision. The chancery court, on appeal, may review all of the proceedings, may receive additional evidence, and make findings of fact, as well as conclusions of law to insure that a fair and reasonable return may be obtained on the sixteenth section lands or lands in lieu thereof.
SECTION 2. Section 29-3-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-27. No sixteenth
section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole or in part, situated
within the school district holding or owning the same shall ever be sold,
except that the local board of education may, under the procedures
hereinafter provided, sell such lands for industrial development thereon,
therein, or thereunder to any persons, firms, or corporations in fee simple, or
any lesser estate therein, for a purchase price not less than the fair market
value thereof * * *.
* * *
When any such sale is made, the deed shall be executed in the name of the State
of Mississippi by the superintendent of the * * * local board of education and the
Secretary of State.
As used in this section and in Sections 29-3-29 and 29-3-61, the term "industrial development" shall include restoration as a tourist attraction the place where an organization was founded, which said organization has since been expanded to be national or international in its membership, scope, and influence.
The proceeds of the sale in
fee simple of any sixteenth section, or lands granted in lieu thereof, in whole
or in part, or such part of said proceeds as may be required to purchase
acreage of equivalent fair market value, shall be used by the local
board of education and the Secretary of State, to purchase other land in
the county, which land shall be held in the name of and reserved by the
State of Mississippi for the support of the township schools in lieu of the
land thus sold, as other sixteenth section lieu land is held, and shall be
subject to all laws applicable thereto. Every such sale and every such
purchase of land in lieu thereof shall be reported by the secretary of the local
board of education to the * * *State Land Commissioner Secretary of State and to the
State Forestry Commission within ninety (90) days after the consummation of
each such sale and purchase. Any funds from a sale in fee simple of any
sixteenth section land, or land granted in lieu thereof, in excess of any
amount used to purchase said land in lieu thereof, shall be treated as corpus
and shall be invested by the local board of education as provided by
law. Only the income from such investment shall be expended for current
operating expenses of the schools.
SECTION 3. Section 29-3-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-29. (1) Before any sixteenth section school land or land granted in lieu thereof may be sold or leased for industrial development thereon, therein or thereunder under the provisions of this chapter, the local board of education controlling such land shall first determine that such sale or lease will be fair market value. In the determination of the fair market value of said land the comparative sales method shall be used, and the highest and best use of said sixteenth section lands shall be determined on the basis of finding that said land shall be susceptible to any use that comparative land in private ownership may be used, that there will be prompt and substantial industrial development on, in, or under said land after the sale or lease, that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, and that such sale or lease will be beneficial to and in the best interest of the schools of the district for which said land is held. All of said findings, including the amount of the sale price or gross rental for said land, shall be spread on the minutes of the local board of education. Also, if the local board of education proposes to sell said land, said board shall first enter into a contract or obtain a legal option to purchase, for a specified price not in excess of fair market value, other land in the county of acreage of equivalent fair market value, and such contract or option shall be spread on the minutes of said board. However, not more than one hundred (100) acres in any one (1) sixteenth section school lands in any county may be sold under this chapter for the purpose of being made an industrial park or a part of such industrial park, provided the provisions of this section and Sections 57-5-1 and 57-5-23 are fully complied with. In proceeding under this section, the controlling local board of education and the Secretary of State shall have all of the duties, responsibilities and privileges as trustees of sixteenth section lands and lands granted in lieu thereof.
(2) A certified copy
of the resolution or order of the local board of education, setting out
the foregoing findings, together with a certified copy of the order approving
and setting out the terms of the contract or option to purchase other lands
where a sale of land is proposed and an application to the * * * Secretary
of State for the certificate authorizing said sale or lease, shall be
forwarded to the county board of supervisors, which board shall make an
independent investigation of the proposed sale or lease and of the proposed
purchase of other land.
If said county board of supervisors shall concur in the finding of fact of the local board of education, and shall find that it is to the best interests of the schools of the district to enter into such sale or lease, it may enter on its minutes a resolution or order approving the action of the board of education.
If the said county board of supervisors shall not concur in the findings of the local board of education, or shall find that the proposed sale or lease will not be in the best interest of the schools of the district, then it may, by resolution or order, disapprove the proposed sale or lease, and such action shall be final.
(3) There shall be
reserved all minerals in, on, and under any lands conveyed under the provisions * * * of this section. * * * However, * * * in any county bordering on the State of
Alabama, traversed by the Tombigbee River, in which U.S. Highway 82 intersects
U.S. Highway 45 and in which is situated a state supported institution of higher
learning, upon the sale of any sixteenth section lands for industrial purposes
as provided by law, the local board of education, the superintendent of
education of the local school district and the * * * Secretary
of State, may sell and convey all minerals except oil, gas, sulphur and
casinghead gas on, in and under the said sixteenth section lands so sold for
industrial purposes. Said oil, gas, sulphur and casinghead gas shall be
reserved together with such rights of use, ingress and egress as shall not
unreasonably interfere with the use of the lands by the purchaser. Prior
written approval for such use, ingress and egress, shall be obtained from the
surface owner or, if such approval is unreasonably withheld, may be obtained
from the chancery court of the county in which said land is located.
* * *
(4) Upon receipt of
the * * *
application and certified copies of the said resolution and orders required
under subsection (20) of this section, the * * * Secretary
of State shall make investigation to determine whether or not the proposed
sale or lease of said land will promote prompt and substantial industrial
development thereon, therein, or thereunder. If the * * * Secretary of State finds that such
sale or lease will promote prompt and substantial industrial development
thereon, therein or thereunder, and further finds that the person, firm or
corporation who proposes to establish said industry is financially responsible,
and that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the amount of
land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future expansion as may
be reasonably anticipated, then the * * * Secretary of State, in * * * his discretion, may issue a
certificate to the board of education of said district so certifying, and said
certificate shall be the authority for the local board of education to
enter into the proposed sale or lease. If the * * * Secretary
of State does not so find, then it shall decline to issue said certificate
which action shall be final.
(5) The * * * Secretary
of State, when issuing a certificate to the county board of education
certifying its findings and authorizing said sale or lease, may, nevertheless,
in its discretion, make such sale or lease conditioned on and subject to the
vote of the qualified electors of said district. Upon receipt of a certificate
so conditioned upon an election, or upon a petition as hereinafter provided
for, the board of education, by resolution spread upon its minutes, shall
forward a copy of the certificate to the board of supervisors who by resolution
upon its minutes, shall call an election to be held in the manner now provided
by law for holding county elections, and shall fix in such resolution a date
upon which such an election shall be held, of which not less than three (3)
weeks notice shall be given by the clerk of said board of supervisors by
publishing a notice in a newspaper published in said county once each week for three
(3) consecutive weeks preceding the same, or if no newspaper is published in
said county, then in a newspaper having a general circulation therein, and by
posting a notice for three (3) weeks preceding said election at three (3)
public places in said county. At such election, all qualified voters of the
county may vote, and the ballots used shall have printed thereon a brief
statement of the proposed sale or lease of said land, including the description
and price, together with the words "For the proposed sale or lease"
and the words "Against the proposed sale or lease," and the voter
shall vote by placing a cross (x) or check (v) opposite his choice of the
proposition. Should the election provided for herein result in favor of the
proposed sale or lease by at least two-thirds (2/3) of the votes cast being in
favor of the said proposition, the board of supervisors shall notify the board
of education who may proceed forthwith to sell or lease said land in accordance
with the proposition so submitted to the electors. If less than two-thirds
(2/3) of those voting in such special election vote in favor of the said sale
or lease, then said land shall not be sold or leased.
(6) The local board of education shall further be required, prior to passing of a resolution expressing its intent to sell said land, to publish a notice of intent to sell said land for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in said county or, if there be none, in a newspaper having a general circulation in said county, and to post three (3) notices thereof in three (3) public places in said county, one (1) of which shall be at the courthouse, for said time. If within the period of three (3) weeks following the first publication of said intent, a petition signed by twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of said county shall be filed with the board of supervisors requesting an election concerning the sale, then an election shall be called as hereinabove provided.
(7) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, where any sixteenth section lands or lands granted in lieu thereof are selected as part of the industrial site of the economic development project defined in Section 57-75-5(f)(xxix), as amended by House Bill No. 1, 2016 First Extraordinary Session, the local board of education with jurisdiction over those lands and the Secretary of State, using the procedure set forth in subsections (1) through (6), may sell and convey all or any portion of the minerals in, on and under any such lands for a purchase price not less than the fair market value determined therefore, and upon such terms and conditions prescribed by such board of education and Secretary of State, provided that:
(a) The mineral interests conveyed shall immediately revert to the State of Mississippi:
(i) Where the enterprise does not begin the actual start of commercial production on the site on or before December 31, 2022;
(ii) Where the enterprise identified with the project defaults on any commitment to make payments in lieu of taxes; or
(iii) At the cessation of commercial production on the premises for more than twenty-four (24) consecutive months by the enterprise. The rights retained in this paragraph (a) shall be held in the name of and reserved by the State of Mississippi for the support of the township schools as public school trust lands;
(b) The local board of education reserves a royalty interest of not less than twenty-five percent (25%) in all oil, gas, and all other minerals in solid, liquid or gaseous state, produced and saved from the premises; and
(c) The local board of education receives a nonrefundable down payment from the purchaser by March 31, 2016, to secure the completion of the sale on or before September 30, 2016; said payment to be credited to the purchaser at the time of completion, if accomplished on or before September 30, 2016.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
