Bill Text: MS HB243 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Littering violations; increase penalties for.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2018-02-08 - Died On Calendar [HB243 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2018-HB243-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2018 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B
By: Representative Sanford
House Bill 243
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-15-29, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE THE PENALTIES FOR THE CRIME OF LITTERING ON THE ROADS AND HIGHWAYS OF THIS STATE; TO REVISE THE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FROM THE STATE ASSESSMENT IMPOSED AND COLLECTED ON SUCH CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-15-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-15-29. (1) Anyone who shall put, throw, dump or leave on the roads and highways of this state, or within the limits of the rights-of-way of such roads and highways, or upon any private property, any cigarette or cigar stubs, or any other thing or substance likely to ignite the grass or underbrush on a road or highway, in addition to being civilly liable for all damages caused by such act shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as provided by subsection (3) of this section.
(2) The Department of Transportation is authorized to erect warning signs along the roads and highways of this state advising the public of the existence of this section and of the penalty for the violation thereof and is further authorized to install receptacles at reasonable intervals along the roads and highways of this state to be used as containers for trash and rubbish and for the convenience of the public using such roads and highways.
(3) Any person found guilty
of the violation of this section shall, upon first conviction, be fined * * * Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00)
and required to perform eight (8) hours of community service in litter
abatement work approved by the court. Upon a second conviction, such person
shall be fined Nine Hundred Dollars ($900.00) and required to perform twenty
(20) hours of community service in litter abatement work approved by the
court. Upon a third or subsequent conviction, such person shall be fined Two
Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500.00), required to perform eighty (80)
hours of community service in litter abatement work approved by the court, and
the person's driving privileges shall be suspended and may not be reinstated
until payment of the fine and completion of the community service requirement.
The proceeds of such fines shall be expended by the collecting jurisdiction
solely for the purpose of funding local litter prevention programs or projects
or local or school litter education programs as recommended by the statewide
litter prevention program of Keep Mississippi Beautiful, Inc.
(4) As a part of the fine
imposed by subsection (3) above, a person convicted for an offense upon which
fines are imposed by this section may be required to perform the following * * *:
(a) Remove or render harmless, in accordance with written direction, as appropriate, from the Department of Environmental Quality or local law enforcement authorities, the unlawfully discarded solid waste;
(b) Repair or restore property damaged by, or pay damages for any damage arising out of the unlawfully discarded solid waste;
(c) Perform community public service relating to the removal of any unlawfully discarded solid waste or to the restoration of any area polluted by unlawfully discarded solid waste; and
(d) Pay all reasonable investigative and prosecutorial expenses and costs to the investigative and/or prosecutorial agency or agencies.
* * *
( * * *5) When any litter is thrown or
discarded from a motor vehicle, the operator of the motor vehicle shall be
deemed in violation of this section.
( * * *6) There shall be imposed and
collected an assessment of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) on each violation of this
section. The assessment shall be deposited into the Law Enforcement Officers
Monument Fund created in Section 39-5-71. After the monument is constructed,
the assessment shall not be deposited into the fund. Twenty-five percent
(25%) of the assessment shall then be deposited with the Postsecondary
Education Financial Assistance Board to be used for the scholarship program for
children of deceased or disabled law enforcement officers and firemen as
provided by Section 37-106-39, twenty-five percent (25%) of the assessment
shall be provided to the law enforcement agency that issued the ticket, twenty-five
percent (25%) of the assessment shall be deposited with the Public Employees'
Retirement System to the credit of such law enforcement agency and twenty-five
percent (25%) of the assessment shall be deposited for use by the Mississippi
Department of Transportation to fund the comprehensive statewide program of
litter prevention as created under Section 65-1-165, with the monies dedicated
toward assisting local litter abatement programs within the statewide program
where such local programs exist.
( * * *7) It shall be the duty of all law
enforcement officers to enforce the provisions of this section.
( * * *8) This section shall not prohibit the
storage of ties and machinery by a railroad on its right-of-way where the
highway right-of-way extends to within a few feet of the railroad roadbed.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.
