Bill Text: MS SB2559 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: 16th section land; remove board of supervisors from having to approve leases and substitute Secretary of State.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [SB2559 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-SB2559-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Education
By: Senator(s) McCaughn
Senate Bill 2559
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 29-3-1, 29-3-29, AND 29-3-82, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAKE CERTAIN TECHNICAL CHANGES RELATED TO THE LEASING AND SALE OF 16TH SECTION LAND; TO SUBSTITUTE THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS FOR THE LEASING AND SALE OF 16TH SECTION LAND; TO DELETE CERTAIN PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF COUNTIES APPROVING SUCH LEASES OR SALES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 29-3-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-1. * * * Sixteenth section school lands, or lands
granted in lieu thereof, constitute property held in trust for the benefit of
the public schools and must be treated as such. The board of education under
the general supervision of the State Land Commissioner, shall have control and
jurisdiction of said school trust lands and of all funds arising from any
disposition thereof heretofore or hereafter made. It shall be the duty of the
board of education to manage the school trust lands and all funds arising
therefrom as trust property. Accordingly, the board shall assure that adequate
compensation is received for all uses of the trust lands, except for uses by
the public schools.
(2) In the event the * * *
Secretary of State declines to approve the rental value of the land set
by the board of education, the board of education shall within ten (10) days
appoint one (1) appraiser, the * * *
Secretary of State shall within twenty (20) days appoint one (1)
appraiser and the two (2) appraisers so appointed shall within twenty (20) days
appoint a third appraiser whose duty it shall be to appraise the land,
exclusive of buildings and improvements, the title to which is not held in trust
for the public schools, and to file a written report * * *
setting forth their recommendation for the rental value of the land within
thirty (30) days. The cost of the appraisal shall be paid from any available
sixteenth section school funds or other school funds of the district. If no
appeal is taken within twenty (20) days as provided hereunder, the lease shall
be executed in accordance with said recommended rental value within thirty (30)
days of the receipt of the appraisers' report. In the event any party is
aggrieved by the decision of the appraisers setting forth the appraised rental
value, the party so aggrieved shall be entitled to an appeal to the chancery
court in which the land is located. Such appeal shall be taken within twenty (20)
days following the decision. The chancery court, on appeal, may review all of
the proceedings, may receive additional evidence, and make findings of fact, as
well as conclusions of law to insure that a fair and reasonable return may be
obtained on the sixteenth section lands or lands in lieu thereof.
SECTION 2. Section 29-3-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-29. Before any sixteenth section school land or land granted in lieu thereof may be sold or leased for industrial development thereon, therein or thereunder under the provisions of this chapter, the board of education controlling such land shall first determine that such sale or lease will be fair market value. In the determination of the fair market value of said land the comparative sales method shall be used, and the highest and best use of said sixteenth section lands shall be determined on the basis of finding that said land shall be susceptible to any use that comparative land in private ownership may be used, that there will be prompt and substantial industrial development on, in, or under said land after the sale or lease, that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess of the amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, and that such sale or lease will be beneficial to and in the best interest of the schools of the district for which said land is held. All of said findings, including the amount of the sale price or gross rental for said land, shall be spread on the minutes of the board of education. Also, if the board of education proposes to sell said land, said board shall first enter into a contract or obtain a legal option to purchase, for a specified price not in excess of fair market value, other land in the county of acreage of equivalent fair market value, and such contract or option shall be spread on the minutes of said board. However, not more than one hundred (100) acres in any one (1) sixteenth section school lands in any county may be sold under this chapter for the purpose of being made an industrial park or a part of such industrial park, provided the provisions of this section and Sections 57-5-1 and 57-5-23 are fully complied with.
A certified copy of the
resolution or order of the board of education, setting out the foregoing
findings, together with a certified copy of the order approving and setting out
the terms of the contract or option to purchase other lands where a sale of
land is proposed and an application to the Mississippi * * *
Secretary
of State for the certificate authorizing said sale or lease * * *.
If * * * the Secretary of State shall concur in the
finding of fact of the board of education, and shall find that it is to the
best interests of the schools of the district to enter into such sale or lease, * * * he may * * * approve the action of the board
of education.
If the * * * Secretary of State shall not concur in the
findings of the board of education, or shall find that the proposed sale or lease
will not be in the best interest of the schools of the district, then * * * he
may, by resolution or order, disapprove the proposed sale or lease, and such
action shall be final.
Except as otherwise
permitted by Section 57-75-37(4)(f), there shall be reserved all minerals in,
on, and under any lands conveyed under the provisions hereof. Provided,
however, that in any county bordering on the State of Alabama, traversed by the
Tombigbee River, in which U.S. Highway 82 intersects U.S. Highway 45 and in
which is situated a state supported institution of higher learning, upon the
sale of any sixteenth section lands for industrial purposes as provided by law,
the board of education, the Superintendent of Education and the * * * Secretary of State, may
sell and convey all minerals except oil, gas, sulphur and casinghead gas on, in
and under the said sixteenth section lands so sold for industrial purposes.
Said oil, gas, sulphur and casinghead gas shall be reserved together with such
rights of use, ingress and egress as shall not unreasonably interfere with the
use of the lands by the purchaser. Prior written approval for such use,
ingress and egress, shall be obtained from the surface owner or, if such
approval is unreasonably withheld, may be obtained from the chancery court of
the county in which said land is located.
Certified copies of the
resolutions or orders of * * *
the board of education and of the application to the * * * Secretary of State shall be
transmitted to the county Superintendent of Education, if there be one in the
county, who, if he approves the proposed sale or lease, shall so certify and
forward same to the * * * Secretary
of State. If there be no county Superintendent of Education in the county,
then the board of education whose district embraces the entire county shall so
certify and transmit said copies to the * * * Secretary of
State.
Upon receipt of the aforesaid
application and certified copies of the said resolution and orders, the * * * Secretary of State shall
make investigation to determine whether or not the proposed sale or lease of
said land will promote prompt and substantial industrial development thereon,
therein, or thereunder. If the * * * Secretary
of State finds that such sale or lease will promote prompt and substantial
industrial development thereon, therein or thereunder, and further finds that
the person, firm or corporation who proposes to establish said industry is
financially responsible, and that the acreage to be sold or leased is not in excess
of the amount of land reasonably required for immediate use and for such future
expansion as may be reasonably anticipated, then the * * * Secretary
of State, in * * *
his discretion, may issue a certificate to the board of education of
said district so certifying, and said certificate shall be the authority for
the board of education to enter into the proposed sale or lease. If the * * * Secretary of State does not
so find, then it shall decline to issue said certificate which action shall be
final.
The * * * Secretary of State, when
issuing a certificate to the county board of education certifying * * * his
findings and authorizing said sale or lease, may, nevertheless, in * * * his
discretion, make such sale or lease conditioned on and subject to the vote of
the qualified electors of said district. Upon receipt of a certificate so
conditioned upon an election, or upon a petition as hereinafter provided for,
the board of education, by resolution spread upon its minutes, shall forward a
copy of the certificate to the board of supervisors who by resolution upon its
minutes, shall call an election to be held in the manner now provided by law
for holding county elections, and shall fix in such resolution a date upon
which such an election shall be held, of which not less than three (3) weeks
notice shall be given by the clerk of said board of supervisors by publishing a
notice in a newspaper published in said county once each week for three (3)
consecutive weeks preceding the same, or if no newspaper is published in said
county, then in a newspaper having a general circulation therein, and by
posting a notice for three (3) weeks preceding said election at three (3)
public places in said county. At such election, all qualified voters of the
county may vote, and the ballots used shall have printed thereon a brief
statement of the proposed sale or lease of said land, including the description
and price, together with the words "For the proposed sale or lease"
and the words "Against the proposed sale or lease," and the voter
shall vote by placing a cross (x) or check (√) opposite his choice of the
proposition. Should the election provided for herein result in favor of the
proposed sale or lease by at least two-thirds (2/3) of the votes cast being in
favor of the said proposition, the board of supervisors shall notify the board
of education who may proceed forthwith to sell or lease said land in accordance
with the proposition so submitted to the electors. If less than two-thirds
(2/3) of those voting in such special election vote in favor of the said sale
or lease, then said land shall not be sold or leased.
The board of education shall further be required, prior to passing of a resolution expressing its intent to sell said land, to publish a notice of intent to sell said land for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in said county or, if there be none, in a newspaper having a general circulation in said county, and to post three (3) notices thereof in three (3) public places in said county, one (1) of which shall be at the courthouse, for said time. If within the period of three (3) weeks following the first publication of said intent, a petition signed by twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of said county shall be filed with the board of supervisors requesting an election concerning the sale, then an election shall be called as hereinabove provided.
SECTION 3. Section 29-3-82, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-3-82. The following procedure shall be followed for the leasing of sixteenth section school lands or lands granted in lieu thereof which are not classified as forest land or agricultural land or leased under Section 29-3-99:
(a) Any present leaseholder who desires to renew his lease, or any person who desires to lease sixteenth section or lieu lands, shall make application to the Superintendent of Education.
(b) Upon receipt of an application for the lease of such lands, the Superintendent of Education shall promptly give consideration to the application and he shall record his recommendation in writing and present it to the board of education at the next regular meeting of the board.
(c) The board of education, at its meeting, shall consider the application and recommendation of the Superintendent of Education and may receive any other information which it considers bearing upon the approval of the application and lease of such land. Within thirty (30) days of the receipt of an application, the board shall act on the application and if such action is favorable, the board of education shall submit to the Superintendent of Education a suggested lease agreement.
(d) The Superintendent
of Education shall then present the lease to the * * * Secretary of State.
Within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the lease, the * * *
Secretary of State shall accept or reject the proposed rental amount.
(e) If the * * *
Secretary of State accepts the lease as proposed by the board of
education, the Superintendent of Education shall execute the lease to the
applicant under the terms and conditions set forth in the lease.
(f) If the * * *
Secretary of State refuses to accept the rental value set by the board
of education in the proposed lease, the rental value of the lease shall be
determined under the provisions set forth in Section 29-3-1(2).
(g) All sixteenth
section or lieu land leases shall be reduced to writing and signed by the * * * Secretary of State, the president of the board
of education and the Superintendent of Education. The chancery clerk shall
record the original on the deed records of the county, abstract the lease as a
mesne conveyance, and record it on the minutes of the board of supervisors.
The chancery clerk shall charge and collect from the lessee the full recording
fees. * * *
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2024.
