Bill Text: MS HB967 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Tourism; create statewide Mississippi Civil Rights Trail.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Failed) 2010-02-02 - Died In Committee [HB967 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2010-HB967-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Tourism
By: Representative Brown
House Bill 967
AN ACT TO RECOGNIZE THAT A SIGNIFICANT ASPECT OF MISSISSIPPI'S HERITAGE, HISTORY AND CULTURE IS THE STATE'S INVOLVEMENT IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES; TO AUTHORIZE AND DIRECT THE DIVISION OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT TO ESTABLISH A STATEWIDE MISSISSIPPI CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL INFRASTRUCTURE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The Legislature recognizes that a significant aspect of Mississippi's heritage, history and culture is the state's involvement in the advancement of civil rights in the United States, considering that numerous individuals who made important contributions to civil rights were Mississippians and that several major civil rights events occurred in this state. Bringing official attention to these civil rights pioneers and historical events will be of great economic and cultural importance to the state by attracting interested visitors from around the world, as well as promoting the education and social development of our state's citizens.
SECTION 2. The Division of Tourism Development of the Mississippi Development Authority is authorized and directed to do the following:
(a) To develop a marketing plan designed to attract tourists, conferences, music and theatrical performances, filmmakers and others for the purpose of the economic development of all geographic areas of the state through the promotion of Mississippi's contribution to the advancement of civil rights in Mississippi and the United States, including an analysis of the tourism and economic impact potential of the statewide Mississippi Civil Rights Trail program.
(b) To make an inventory of civil rights assets that make up the history and heritage of the advancement of civil rights in Mississippi and the United States, with an emphasis on individual Mississippians who contributed to that advancement and on the major civil rights events that occurred in this state.
(c) To establish a statewide Mississippi Civil Rights Trail infrastructure to offer tourists and targeted audiences a structured tour of Mississippi civil rights historical sites and venues, including locations where Mississippians who contributed to the advancement of civil rights lived and worked and where civil rights events occurred in this state.
(d) To designate specific sites for the erection of the appropriate Mississippi Civil Rights Trail markers for the civil rights historical sites and venues. The division is authorized to approve the texts for the markers and to purchase appropriate markers from any available funds. The Mississippi Department of Transportation shall cooperate with the division by erecting and maintaining the markers that have been approved by the division.
(e) To coordinate the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail program with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Mississippi Educational Television Authority, and the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, and similar organizations to share resources and information in order to ensure a comprehensive approach to marketing the heritage and history of the advancement of civil rights in Mississippi.
(f) To coordinate the Mississippi Civil Rights Trail marketing plan with any existing state historic preservation program, in order to identify and preserve civil rights historic properties, and determine the eligibility of those properties for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, and prepare nominations of those sites.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.
