Bill Text: MS SB2754 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Agriculture; enact Mississippi Farm Rights Protection Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-04 - Died In Committee [SB2754 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-SB2754-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Agriculture
By: Senator(s) Hill
Senate Bill 2754
AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI FARM RIGHTS PROTECTION ACT; TO DEFINE FARM COMMERCE; TO PROVIDE THAT FARM COMMERCE ACTIVITIES SHALL NOT BE UNDULY RESTRICTED; TO PLACE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ON COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL ORDINANCES RELATED TO FARM COMMERCE; TO AMEND SECTION 17-1-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) As used in this section, the term "farm commerce" means any operation devoted to the bona fide husbandry, production and commerce of crops, farm animals or fowl, their fiber or feathers, things grown agriculturally from the earth and harvested such as fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, edible fungi, tobacco, nursery and floral products, seeds, meat, dairy and poultry products; the production and harvest of products from silviculture activity and equine and other farm animal activities, husbandry-related events and farm-related events.
(2) This section shall apply to the creation, use and commerce of items such as art, crafts, pottery, literature, artifacts, furniture, food, beverages, natural oils and soaps, honey, spun fiber, woven items, handmade jewelry and other items that are traditional to farm commerce and are beneficial to the health, safety and welfare of farmers, their families, guests and property.
(3) This section shall apply to cottage food operations under Section 75-29-951 and to items grown at the farm that are preserved, prepared, processed, canned, jarred, wrapped or packaged off the farm. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that on the farm preparation, preserving, processing, canning, jarring wrapping or packaging covered by this section are farm commerce and not industrial or manufacturing activities.
(4) "Farm commerce" shall be by right, and no county or municipality shall adopt any ordinance that requires that a special exception or special use permit be obtained for any farm commerce activity in an area that is zoned as an agricultural district or classification.
(5) No county or municipality shall enact zoning ordinances that would unreasonably restrict or regulate farm commerce in a agricultural district or classification unless the restrictions bear a direct and articulated relationship to the health, safety and general welfare of its citizens. The burden shall be on the county or municipality to articulate and establish the direct relationship to the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.
(6) No local ordinance regulating noise arising from activities and events at farms shall be more restrictive that that in the general noise ordinance.
SECTION 2. Section 17-1-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-1-3. (1) Except as otherwise provided in Article VII of the Chickasaw Trail Economic Development Compact described in Section 57-36-1, for the purpose of promoting health, safety, morals, or the general welfare of the community, the governing authority of any municipality, and, with respect to the unincorporated part of any county, the governing authority of any county, in its discretion, are empowered to regulate the height, number of stories and size of building and other structures, the percentage of lot that may be occupied, the size of the yards, courts and other open spaces, the density of population, and the location and use of buildings, structures and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes, but no permits shall be required with reference to land used for agricultural purposes, including forestry activities as defined in Section 95-3-29(2)(c) or for farm commerce as provided in Section 1 of this act, or for the erection, maintenance, repair or extension of farm buildings or farm structures, including forestry buildings and structures, outside the corporate limits of municipalities. The governing authority of each county and municipality may create playgrounds and public parks, and for these purposes, each of such governing authorities shall possess the power, where requisite, of eminent domain and the right to apply public money thereto, and may issue bonds therefor as otherwise permitted by law.
(2) Local land use regulation ordinances involving the placement, screening, or height of amateur radio antenna structures must reasonably accommodate amateur communications and must constitute the minimum practicable regulation to accomplish local authorities' legitimate purposes of addressing health, safety, welfare and aesthetic considerations. Judgments as to the types of reasonable accommodation to be made and the minimum practicable regulation necessary to address these purposes will be determined by local governing authorities within the parameters of the law. This legislation supports the amateur radio service in preparing for and providing emergency communications for the State of Mississippi and local emergency management agencies.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.
