Bill Text: MS HB808 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Vehicle management system; require Board of Trustees of State IHL to develop for each institution.
Sponsorship: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)
Status: (Failed) 2013-02-14 - Died On Calendar [HB808 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2013-HB808-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2013 Regular Session
To: S.C. Accountblty/Efficiency/Transparency; Appropriations
By: Representatives Rogers (61st), Buck (72nd), Currie, Rogers (14th), Upshaw
House Bill 808
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-101-15, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING TO IMPLEMENT A VEHICLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE INDIVIDUAL STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING; TO SET OUT THE BOARD'S POWERS WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SYSTEM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 37-101-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-101-15. ( * * * 1) The Board of Trustees of State
Institutions of Higher Learning shall succeed to and continue to exercise
control of all records, books, papers, equipment, and supplies, and all lands,
buildings, and other real and personal property belonging to or assigned to the
use and benefit of the board of trustees formerly supervising and controlling
the institutions of higher learning named in Section 37-101-1. The board shall
have and exercise control of the use, distribution and disbursement of all
funds, appropriations and taxes, now and hereafter in possession, levied and
collected, received, or appropriated for the use, benefit, support, and
maintenance or capital outlay expenditures of the institutions of higher
learning, including the authorization of employees to sign vouchers for the
disbursement of funds for the various institutions, except where otherwise
specifically provided by law.
( * * * 2) The board shall have general
supervision of the affairs of all the institutions of higher learning,
including the departments and the schools thereof. The board shall have the
power in its discretion to determine who shall be privileged to enter, to
remain in, or to graduate therefrom. The board shall have general supervision
of the conduct of libraries and laboratories, the care of dormitories,
buildings, and grounds; the business methods and arrangement of accounts and
records; the organization of the administrative plan of each institution; and
all other matters incident to the proper functioning of the institutions. The
board shall have the authority to establish minimum standards of achievement as
a prerequisite for entrance into any of the institutions under its
jurisdiction, which standards need not be uniform between the various
institutions and which may be based upon such criteria as the board may
establish.
( * * * 3) The board shall exercise all the
powers and prerogatives conferred upon it under the laws establishing and
providing for the operation of the several institutions herein specified. The
board shall adopt such bylaws and regulations from time to time as it deems
expedient for the proper supervision and control of the several institutions of
higher learning, insofar as such bylaws and regulations are not repugnant to
the Constitution and laws, and not inconsistent with the object for which these
institutions were established. The board shall have power and authority to
prescribe rules and regulations for policing the campuses and all buildings of
the respective institutions, to authorize the arrest of all persons violating
on any campus any criminal law of the state, and to have such law violators
turned over to the civil authorities.
( * * * 4) For all institutions specified
herein, the board shall provide a uniform system of recording and of accounting
approved by the State Department of Audit. The board shall annually prepare,
or cause to be prepared, a budget for each institution of higher learning for
the succeeding year which must be prepared and in readiness for at least thirty
(30) days before the convening of the regular session of the Legislature. All
relationships and negotiations between the State Legislature and its various
committees and the institutions named herein shall be carried on through the
board of trustees. No official, employee or agent representing any of the
separate institutions shall appear before the Legislature or any committee
thereof except upon the written order of the board or upon the request of the
Legislature or a committee thereof.
( * * * 5) For all institutions specified
herein, the board shall prepare an annual report to the Legislature setting
forth the disbursements of all monies appropriated to the respective
institutions. Each report to the Legislature shall show how the money
appropriated to the several institutions has been expended, beginning and
ending with the fiscal years of the institutions, showing the name of each
teacher, officer, and employee, and the salary paid each, and an itemized
statement of each and every item of receipts and expenditures. Each report
must be balanced, and must begin with the former balance. If any property
belonging to the state or the institution is used for profit, the reports shall
show the expense incurred in managing the property and the amount received
therefrom. The reports shall also show a summary of the gross receipts and
gross disbursements for each year and shall show the money on hand at the
beginning of the fiscal period of the institution next preceding each session
of the Legislature and the necessary amount of expense to be incurred from said
date to January 1 following. The board shall keep the annual expenditures of
each institution herein mentioned within the income derived from legislative
appropriations and other sources, but in case of emergency arising from acts of
providence, epidemics, fire or storm with the written approval of the Governor
and by written consent of a majority of the senators and of the representatives
it may exceed the income. The board shall require a surety bond in a surety
company authorized to do business in this state, of every employee who is the
custodian of funds belonging to one or more of the institutions mentioned
herein, which bond shall be in a sum to be fixed by the board in an amount that
will properly safeguard the said funds, the premium for which shall be paid out
of the funds appropriated for said institutions.
( * * * 6) The board shall have the power and
authority to elect the heads of the various institutions of higher learning and
to contract with all deans, professors, and other members of the teaching
staff, and all administrative employees of said institutions for a term of not
exceeding four (4) years. The board shall have the power and authority to
terminate any such contract at any time for malfeasance, inefficiency, or
contumacious conduct, but never for political reasons. It shall be the policy
of the board to permit the executive head of each institution to nominate for
election by the board all subordinate employees of the institution over which
he presides. It shall be the policy of the board to elect all officials for a
definite tenure of service and to reelect during the period of satisfactory
service. The board shall have the power to make any adjustments it thinks necessary
between the various departments and schools of any institution or between the
different institutions.
( * * * 7) The board shall keep complete
minutes and records of all proceedings which shall be open for inspection by
any citizen of the state.
( * * * 8) The board shall have the power to
contract, on a shared-savings, lease or lease-purchase basis, for energy
efficiency services and/or equipment as prescribed in Section 31-7-14, not to
exceed ten (10) years.
( * * *9) The board * * *,
for and on behalf of Jackson State University, is hereby authorized to convey
by donation or otherwise easements across portions of certain real estate
located in the City of Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, for right-of-way
required for the Metro Parkway Project.
( * * *10) In connection with any international contract between the board or one (1) of the state's institutions of higher learning and any party outside of the United States, the board or institution that is the party to the international contract is hereby authorized and empowered to include in the contract a provision for the resolution by arbitration of any controversy between the parties to the contract relating to such contract or the failure or refusal to perform any part of the contract. Such provision shall be valid, enforceable and irrevocable without regard to the justiciable character of the controversy. Provided, however, that in the event either party to such contract initiates litigation against the other with respect to the contract, the arbitration provision shall be deemed waived unless asserted as a defense on or before the responding party is required to answer such litigation.
( * * *11)
The board * * *, on
behalf of any institution under its jurisdiction, shall purchase and maintain
business property insurance and business personal property insurance on all
university-owned buildings and/or contents as required by federal law and
regulations of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as is necessary
for receiving public assistance or reimbursement for repair, reconstruction,
replacement or other damage to those buildings and/or contents caused by the
Hurricane Katrina Disaster of 2005 or subsequent disasters. The board is
authorized to expend funds from any available source for the purpose of
obtaining and maintaining that property insurance. The board is authorized to
enter into agreements with the Department of Finance and Administration, local
school districts, community/junior college districts, community hospitals
and/or other state agencies to pool their liabilities to participate in a group
business property and/or business personal property insurance program, subject
to uniform rules and regulations as may be adopted by the Department of Finance
and Administration.
( * * *12) The board * * *,
or its designee, may approve the payment or reimbursement of reasonable travel
expenses incurred by candidates for open positions at the board's executive
office or at any of the state institutions of higher learning, when the job
candidate has incurred expenses in traveling to a job interview at the request
of the board, the Commissioner of Higher Education or a state institution of
higher learning administrator.
(13) The board shall develop a vehicle fleet management system for the individual state institutions of higher learning. The system shall make the board responsible for reviewing and approving the procurement, disposal and assignment of vehicles in the possession of the individual state institutions of higher learning. The board may prescribe forms, logs and other necessary management practices for the efficient and effective implementation of the vehicle management system.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2013.
