Bill Text: MS HB587 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: County supervisors districts; revise when changes to boundaries of districts can be effective.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2012-03-06 - Died In Committee [HB587 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-HB587-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Martinson
House Bill 587
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-285, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE TIME PERIOD IN WHICH ANY CHANGE TO THE BOUNDARY OF THE DISTRICT FOR A COUNTY SUPERVISOR MAY BE EFFECTIVE; TO AMEND SECTION 19-3-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING SECTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-285, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-285. The board of supervisors shall cause an entry to be made on the minutes of the board at some meeting, as early as convenient, defining the boundaries of the several supervisors districts and voting precincts in the county, and designating the voting place in each voting precinct; and as soon as practicable after any change is made in any supervisors district, voting precinct or any voting place, the board of supervisors shall cause such * * * change to be entered on the minutes of the board in such manner as to be easily understood. The changed boundaries shall conform to visible natural or artificial boundaries such as streets, highways, railroads, rivers, lakes, bayous or other obvious lines of demarcation, with the exception of county lines and municipal corporate limits.
No voting precinct shall have more than five hundred (500) qualified electors residing in its boundaries. Subject to the provisions of this section, each board of supervisors of the various counties of this state shall as soon as practical after the effective date of this section, alter or change the boundaries of the various voting precincts to comply herewith and shall from time to time make such * * * changes in the boundaries of voting precincts so that there shall never be more than five hundred (500) qualified electors within the boundaries of the various voting precincts of this state; provided further, this limitation shall not apply to voting precincts that are so divided, alphabetically or otherwise, so as to have less than five hundred (500) qualified electors in any one (1) box within a voting precinct. However, the limitation of five hundred (500) qualified electors to the voting precinct shall not apply to voting precincts in which voting machines are used at all elections held that voting precinct. No change in any supervisors district or voting precinct shall take effect less than thirty (30) days before the qualifying deadline for the office of county supervisor. Any change in any boundary of a supervisors district or voting precinct that is approved under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 less than thirty (30) days before such qualifying deadline shall be effective only for an election for county supervisor held in a year following the year in which such change is approved under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Provided, however, that, with the exception of county lines and municipal corporate limits, such altered boundaries shall conform to visible natural or artificial boundaries such as streets, highways, railroads, rivers, lakes, bayous or other obvious lines of demarcation.
SECTION 2. Section 19-3-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
19-3-1. Each county shall be divided into five (5) districts, with due regard to equality of population and convenience of situation for the election of members of the boards of supervisors, but the districts as now existing shall continue until changed. The qualified electors of each district shall elect, at the next general election, and every four (4) years thereafter, in their districts one (1) member of the board of supervisors. Subject to the provisions of Section 23-15-285, the board, by a three-fifths (3/5) vote of all members elected, may * * * change * * * the districts, the boundaries to be entered at large in the minutes of the proceedings of the board. Provided, however, that such changed boundaries shall in as far as possible conform as to natural, visible artificial boundaries, such as streets, highways, railroads, rivers, lakes, bayous or other obvious lines of demarcation, except county lines and municipal corporate limits.
If the boundaries of the districts are changed * * * by order of the board of supervisors as * * * provided in this section, the order * * * shall be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the county once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks.
SECTION 3. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.
