Bill Text: MS HB1597 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Crimes related to public funds; bring forward code sections related to.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [HB1597 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-HB1597-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary A
By: Representative Denton
House Bill 1597
AN ACT TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 99-19-18, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; TO AMEND SECTION 97-11-53, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAKE MINOR, NONSUBSTANTIVE CHANGES; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 97-11-31, 97-11-13, 97-11-25 AND 97-11-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; TO AMEND SECTION 97-11-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAKE MINOR, NONSUBSTANTIVE CHANGES; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 97-11-33 AND 97-17-41, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; TO AMEND SECTIONS 97-17-43 AND 97-23-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAKE MINOR, NONSUBSTANTIVE CHANGES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 99-19-18, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
99–19–18. When any person is convicted of a felony or felonies in which public funds in the amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or more were unlawfully taken, obtained or misappropriated, the sentence imposed by the court shall include a minimum term of imprisonment of one (1) year in the custody of the Department of Corrections. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, such mandatory minimum term shall not be reduced or suspended nor shall such person be eligible for probation or parole before the expiration of one (1) year of incarceration.
SECTION 2. Section 97-11-53, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-11-53. As used in this section the following words shall have the following meaning:
* * *(a) Person: individual, firm,
corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity.
* * *(b) Public official:
* * *(i) Any elected official of the
State of Mississippi or of any political subdivision thereof, or
* * *(ii) Any officer, director,
commissioner, supervisor, chief, head, agent or employee of:
* * *1. The State of Mississippi,
* * *2. Any agency of the State of
Mississippi,
* * *3. Any political subdivision of
the State of Mississippi,
* * *4. Any body politic of the State of
Mississippi, or
* * *5. Any entity created by or under
the laws of the State of Mississippi or by executive order of the Governor of the
State of Mississippi and which expends public funds.
No person shall directly or
indirectly offer, promise, give or agree to give to any public official or his
spouse any money, property, or other tangible or intangible thing of value as
an inducement or incentive for (a) the awarding or refusal to award a contract
by any of the entities referred to in * * * items 1 through * * * 5 of * * * paragraph (b)(ii) of this
section; (b) the purchase, sale or lease of property by any of the entities referred
to in * * *
items 1 through * * *
5 of * * * paragraph (b)(ii) of this section; or (c) the
accomplishment of any official act or purpose involving public funds or public
trust.
Any person who violates the terms of this section shall be guilty of a felony and shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the Penitentiary not more than ten (10) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both; and in addition such person and the firm, corporation, partnership, association or other type of business entity which he represents shall be barred for a period of five (5) years from the date of conviction from doing business with the State of Mississippi or any political subdivision thereof or any other public entity referred to in this section.
No public official shall
directly or indirectly accept, receive, offer to receive or agree to receive
any gift, offer, or promise of any money, property or other tangible or
intangible thing of value as an inducement or incentive for (a) the awarding or
refusal to award a contract by any of the entities referred to in * * * items 1 through * * * 5 of * * * paragraph (b)(ii) of this
section; (b) the purchase, sale or lease of property by any of the entities
referred to in * * * items 1 through * * * 5 of * * * paragraph (b)(ii) of this
section; or (c) the accomplishment of any official act or purpose involving
public funds or public trust.
Any public official who violates the terms of this section or whose spouse does so with his knowledge and consent, shall be guilty of a felony and shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the Penitentiary not more than ten (10) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both; and in addition, upon conviction such public official shall forfeit his office, if any he hold, and be forever disqualified from holding any public office, trust, appointment or employment with the State of Mississippi or any political subdivision thereof or with any other public entity referred to in this section.
Each violation of the provisions of this section shall constitute a separate offense.
SECTION 3. Section 97-11-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-11-31. If any officer, or other person employed in any public office, shall commit any fraud or embezzlement therein, he shall be committed to the Department of Corrections for not more than ten (10) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
SECTION 4. Section 97-11-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-11-13. If any officer, agent or trustee shall accept any gift, offer or promise, prohibited by Section 97-11-11, he shall, on conviction, be forever disqualified from holding any public office, trust or appointment, and shall forfeit his office, if any be held, and be imprisoned in the Penitentiary not more than ten (10) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
SECTION 5. Section 97-11-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-11-25. If any state officer or any county officer, or an officer in any district or subdivision of a county, or an officer of any city, town or village, or a notary public, or any other person holding any public office or employment, or any executor, administrator or guardian, or any trustee of an express trust, any master or commissioner or receiver, or any attorney at law or solicitor, or any bank or collecting agent, or other person engaged in like public employment, or any other person undertaking to act for others and intrusted by them with business of any kind, or with money, shall unlawfully convert to his own use any money or other valuable thing which comes to his hands or possession by virtue of his office or employment, or shall not, when lawfully required to turn over such money or deliver such thing, immediately do so according to his legal obligation, he shall, on conviction, be committed to the Department of Corrections for not more than twenty (20) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00).
SECTION 6. Section 97-11-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-11-27. If any officer or agent of this state, or of any county or subdivision of a county, or of any city, town, or village therein, in whose hands money, books, records, papers, or anything else required by law to be delivered by him to his successor in office or other person authorized by law to receive or have charge of the same, may be, shall willfully and not in good faith refuse or neglect, on demand, to so deliver the same, he shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the Penitentiary not more than ten (10) years, or be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) and be imprisoned in the county jail not more than one (1) year.
SECTION 7. Section 97-11-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-11-29. The State
Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, assessors and collectors of taxes, and
all other state and county officers, and officers of cities, towns and
villages, shall make and keep in their offices, subject to inspection at all
times, an accurate entry of each and every sum of public money, securities, stocks,
or other public money whatever, by them received, transferred, or disbursed;
and if any of said officers, either municipal, county or state, or a clerk,
agent or employee of such officers, shall willfully and fraudulently make any
false entry therein or make any certificate or endorsement of any warrant on
the Treasury that the same is genuine, when the same is in fact not a genuine
warrant, or shall loan any portion of the public * * * monies, securities, stocks, or
other public property * * *
entrusted to him, for any purpose whatever, or shall, by willful act or
omission of duty whatever, defraud, or attempt to defraud, the state, or any
county, city, town or village, of any * * * monies, security, or property,
he shall, on conviction thereof, be guilty of embezzlement, and fined not less
than double the amount or value of the * * * monies, security, stock or other
property so embezzled, or committed to the Department of Corrections for not
more than ten (10) years, or both.
SECTION 8. Section 97-11-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-11-33. If any judge, justice court judge, sheriff, deputy sheriff, sheriff's employee, constable, assessor, collector, clerk, county medical examiner, county medical examiner investigator, employee of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, employee of any contractor providing incarceration services or any other officer, shall knowingly demand, take or collect, under color of his office, any money fee or reward whatever, not authorized by law, or shall demand and receive, knowingly, any fee for service not actually performed, such officer, so offending, shall be guilty of extortion, and, on conviction, shall be punished by fine not exceeding Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or imprisonment for not more than five (5) years, or both, and shall be removed from office.
SECTION 9. Section 97-17-41, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
97-17-41. (1) Any person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously, the personal property of another, of the value of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more, but less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), shall be guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding five (5) years; or shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both. The total value of property taken and carried away by the person from a single victim shall be aggregated in determining the gravity of the offense.
(2) Any person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously, the personal property of another, of the value of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or more, but less than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), shall be guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten (10) years; or shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both. The total value of property taken and carried away by the person from a single victim shall be aggregated in determining the gravity of the offense.
(3) Any person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously, the personal property of another, of the value of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or more, shall be guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding twenty (20) years; or shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both. The total value of property taken and carried away by the person from a single victim shall be aggregated in determining the gravity of the offense.
(4) (a) Any person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously, the property of a church, synagogue, temple or other established place of worship, of the value of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more, shall be guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten (10) years, or shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.
(b) Any person who shall be convicted of taking and carrying away, feloniously, the property of a church, synagogue, temple or other established place of worship, of the value of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or more, shall be guilty of grand larceny, and shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding twenty (20) years, or shall be fined not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both. The total value of property taken and carried away by the person from a single victim shall be aggregated in determining the gravity of the offense.
SECTION 10. Section 97-17-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-17-43. (1) If any person shall feloniously take, steal and carry away any personal property of another under the value of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), he shall be guilty of petit larceny and, upon conviction, may be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months or by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both, if the court finds substantial and compelling reasons why the offender cannot be safely and effectively supervised in the community, is not amenable to community-based treatment, or poses a significant risk to public safety. If such a finding is not made, the court shall suspend the sentence of imprisonment and impose a period of probation not exceeding one (1) year or a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both. The total value of property taken, stolen or carried away by the person from a single victim shall be aggregated in determining the gravity of the offense. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this section where the value of the property is not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding three (3) years or fined an amount not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(2) If any person shall feloniously take, steal and carry away any property of a church, synagogue, temple or other established place of worship under the value of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), he shall be guilty of petit larceny and, upon conviction, may be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one (1) year or by a fine not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or both, if the court finds substantial and compelling reasons why the offender cannot be safely and effectively supervised in the community, is not amenable to community-based treatment, or poses a significant risk to public safety. If such a finding is not made, the court shall suspend the sentence of imprisonment and impose a period of probation not exceeding one (1) year or a fine not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or both. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this section where the value of the property is not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding three (3) years or fined an amount not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or both.
(3) Any person who leaves the premises of an establishment at which motor fuel offered for retail sale was dispensed into the fuel tank of a motor vehicle by driving away in that motor vehicle without having made due payment or authorized charge for the motor fuel so dispensed, with intent to defraud the retail establishment, shall be guilty of petit larceny and punished as provided in subsection (1) of this section and, upon any second or subsequent such offense, the driver's license of the person shall be suspended as follows:
(a) The person shall submit the driver's license to the court upon conviction and the court shall forward the driver's license to the Department of Public Safety.
(b) The first suspension of a driver's license under this subsection shall be for a period of six (6) months.
(c) A second or subsequent suspension of a driver's license under this subsection shall be for a period of one (1) year.
(d) At the expiration
of the suspension period, and upon payment of a restoration fee of Twenty-five
Dollars ($25.00), the suspension shall terminate and the Department of Public
Safety shall return the person's driver's license to the person. The
restoration fee shall be in addition to the fees provided for in Chapter 1,
Title 63, * * *
and shall be deposited into the State General Fund in accordance with Section
45-1-23.
SECTION 11. Section 97-23-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-23-19. If any person shall embezzle or fraudulently secrete, conceal, or convert to his own use, or make way with, or secrete with intent to embezzle or convert to his own use, any goods, rights in action, money, or other valuable security, effects, or property of any kind or description which shall have come or been entrusted to his care or possession by virtue of his office, position, place, or employment, either in mass or otherwise, he shall be guilty of embezzlement.
(a) Any person guilty of embezzlement of any goods, rights of action, money, or other valuable security, effects or property of any kind or description with a value of less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), shall be guilty of misdemeanor embezzlement, and, upon conviction thereof, may be sentenced to a term of imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six (6) months, or fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both, if the court finds substantial and compelling reasons why the offender cannot be safely and effectively supervised in the community, is not amenable to community-based treatment or poses a significant risk to public safety. If such a finding is not made, the court shall suspend the sentence of imprisonment and impose a period of probation not exceeding one (1) year or a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this subsection where the value of the property is not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding three (3) years or fined an amount not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), or both.
(b) Any person guilty of embezzlement of any goods, rights in action, money, or other valuable security, effects or property of any kind or description with a value of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more, but less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), shall be guilty of felony embezzlement, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections not more than five (5) years, or fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
(c) Any person guilty of embezzlement of any goods, rights in action, money, or other valuable security, effects or property of any kind or description with a value of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or more, but less than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), shall be guilty of felony embezzlement, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary for not more than ten (10) years, or fined not more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), or both.
(d) Any person guilty of embezzlement of any goods, rights in action, money, or other valuable security, effects or property of any kind or description with a value of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or more, shall be guilty of felony embezzlement, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the Penitentiary not more than twenty (20) years, or fined not more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), or both.
SECTION 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
