Bill Text: MS SB2077 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Attorney General; impose 60-day and 25-day deadlines for regular and expedited opinions, respectively.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-17 - Referred To Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency [SB2077 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-SB2077-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency
By: Senator(s) Parker
Senate Bill 2077
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 7-5-25, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO IMPOSE A SIXTY-DAY DEADLINE FOR THE ISSUING OF REGULAR ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS; TO IMPOSE A TWENTY-FIVE-DAY DEADLINE FOR THE ISSUING OF EXPEDITED ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 7-5-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-5-25. (a) The
Attorney General shall give his or her opinion in writing, without fee,
to the Legislature, or either house or any committee thereof, and to the
Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor of Public Accounts, the State
Treasurer, the Superintendent of Public Education, the Insurance Commissioner,
the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, the State Geologist, the State
Librarian, the Director of Archives and History, the Adjutant General, the
State Board of Health, the Commissioner of Corrections, the Public Service
Commission, Chairman of the State Tax Commission, the State Forestry Commission,
the Transportation Commission * * * and any other state officer, department or commission
operating under the law * * *, or which may be hereafter created; the trustees and heads of
any state institution, the trustees and heads of the universities and the state
colleges, the district attorneys, the boards of supervisors of the several counties,
the sheriffs, the chancery clerks, the circuit clerks, the superintendents of
education, the tax assessors, county surveyors, the county attorneys, the attorneys
for the boards of supervisors, mayor or council or board of aldermen of any
municipality of this state * * * and all other county officers (and no
others), when requested in writing, upon any question of law relating to their
respective offices.
(b) The Attorney General shall issue an opinion letter within sixty (60) days of receiving a complete and valid regular opinion request. If the request for an opinion letter asks for the delivery of an expedited opinion, the Attorney General shall issue an opinion letter within twenty-five (25) days of receiving a complete and valid expedited opinion request.
(c) When any
officer, board, commission, department or person authorized by this section to
require such written opinion of the Attorney General shall have done so and
shall have stated all the facts to govern such opinion, and the Attorney
General has prepared and delivered a legal opinion with reference thereto,
there shall be no liability, civil or criminal, accruing to or against any such
officer, board, commission, department or person who, in good faith, follows
the direction of such opinion and acts in accordance therewith unless a court
of competent jurisdiction, after a full hearing, shall judicially declare that
such opinion is manifestly wrong and without any substantial support. However,
if a court of competent jurisdiction makes such a judicial declaration about a
written opinion of the Attorney General that applies to acts or omissions of
any licensee to which Section 63-19-57, 75-67-137 or 75-67-245 applies, and the
licensee has acted in conformity with that written opinion, the liability of
the licensee shall be governed by Section 63-19-57, 75-67-137 or 75-67-245, as
the case may be. No opinion shall be given or considered if the opinion is given
after a suit * * * has been filed or prosecution has
begun.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
