Bill Text: MS SB2892 | 2026 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Municipal annexation; require petition in annexed territory to approve.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Failed) 2026-02-03 - Died In Committee [SB2892 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2026-SB2892-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2026 Regular Session
To: Municipalities; Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) England
Senate Bill 2892
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION IN THE TERRITORY PROPOSED TO BE ANNEXED PURSUANT TO A PETITION SIGNED BY TWO-THIRDS OF THE ELECTORS RESIDING IN THE TERRITORY PROPOSED TO BE ANNEXED; TO PRESCRIBE THE CONDITIONS OF THE PETITION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 21-1-29, 21-1-31, 21-1-33, 21-1-35, 21-1-37 AND 21-1-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION FROM CHANCERY COURT PROCEEDINGS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 21-1-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-27. (1) The limits
and boundaries of existing cities, towns and villages shall remain as now
established until altered in the manner hereinafter provided. When any
municipality * * * desires to enlarge or contract * * *
its boundaries * * * by adding * * *
adjacent unincorporated territory or excluding * * *
from its boundaries any part of the incorporated territory of * * *
the municipality, the governing authorities of such municipality shall
pass an ordinance defining with certainty the territory proposed to be included
in or excluded from the corporate limits, and also defining the entire boundary
as changed. * * * If the municipality
desires to enlarge * * * its boundaries, * * * the municipality shall circulate a
petition as provided in subsection (2) and the ordinance shall in general
terms describe the proposed improvements to be made in the annexed territory,
the manner and extent of such improvements, and the approximate time within
which such improvements are to be made; * * *
the ordinance shall also contain a statement of the municipal or public
services which such municipality proposes to render in such annexed territory. * * * If the municipality * * *
desires to contract its boundaries, such ordinance shall contain a
statement of the reasons for * * * the
contraction and a statement showing * * *
how the public convenience and necessity would be served * * *
by the contraction.
(2) * * * If two-thirds (2/3) of the
qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to be annexed by a
municipality petition the governing body of the municipality in favor of the
proposed annexation, as certified by the clerk of the municipality, within
sixty (60) days after public notice of the adoption of the annexation ordinance,
the municipality shall declare the territory to be annexed pursuant to the petition.
* * *
SECTION 2. Section 21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-29. When any * * * ordinance * * *
proposing to contract the municipal boundaries is passed by the
municipal authorities, * * * the municipal authorities shall file a petition
in the chancery court of the county in which * * * the municipality is located * * *. The petition shall recite the fact of the
adoption of * * *
the ordinance and shall pray that the * * * contraction of the municipal
boundaries * * * be ratified, approved and confirmed by the
court. There shall be attached to * * * the petition, as exhibits * * *, a certified copy of the
ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a map or plat of the
municipal boundaries as they will exist * * * if the
contraction becomes effective.
SECTION 3. Section 21-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-31. Upon the filing of * * * the petition and upon
application therefor by the petitioner, the chancellor shall fix a date
certain, either in term time or in vacation, when a hearing on * * * the petition will be held,
and notice * * *
of the hearing shall be given in the same manner and for the same
length of time as is provided in Section 21-1-15 with regard to the creation of
municipal corporations * * *. All parties interested in, affected by, or being
aggrieved by * * * the contraction shall have the
right to appear at such hearing and present their objection to * * * the
contraction. * * *
SECTION 4. Section 21-1-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-33. (1) If the
chancellor finds from the evidence presented at the hearing that the proposed * * *
contraction is
reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity * * * and that the governing authority
of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the
chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the
proposed * * * contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as
altered. In so doing, the chancellor shall have the right and the power
to modify the proposed * * * contraction by decreasing the territory to be * * * excluded from the municipality,
as the case may be.
(2) If the chancellor shall
find from the evidence that the * * * contraction * * * is unreasonable and is
not required by the public convenience and necessity, or in the event * * *
the
governing authority of the municipality failed to comply with the provisions of
Section 21-1-27, then he shall enter a decree denying the * * * contraction.
(3) In any event, the
decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10)
days from the date * * * of the decree or, in the event an appeal is taken
therefrom, within ten (10) days from the final determination of the appeal. In
any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal
authorities to show that the proposed * * * contraction is reasonable.
SECTION 5. Section 21-1-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-35. * * * If no objection
is made to the petition for the * * * contraction of the
municipal boundaries, the municipality shall be taxed with all costs of the
proceedings. * * * If the objection is made, * * * the costs may be taxed in * * * the manner * * *
the chancellor shall determine to be equitable pursuant to the Mississippi
Rules of Civil Procedure. * * * In the event of If there is an appeal from
the judgment of the chancellor, the costs incurred in the appeal shall be taxed
against the appellant if the judgment * * * is affirmed, and against the
appellee if the judgment * * * be is reversed.
SECTION 6. Section 21-1-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-37. If the
municipality or any other interested person who was a party to the proceedings
in the chancery court * * * is aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor regarding
contraction of the municipal boundaries, then * * *
the municipality or other person may prosecute an appeal * * * from the chancellor's
decree within the time and in the manner and with like effect as is
provided in Section 21-1-21 in the case of appeals from the decree of the
chancellor with regard to the creation of a municipal corporation.
SECTION 7. Section 21-1-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
21-1-39. (1)
Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality * * * are
contracted, as herein provided, the chancery clerk shall forward, after
the expiration of ten (10) days from the date of * * * the decree if no appeal be
taken therefrom, * * * to the Secretary of State a certified copy of * * * the decree, which shall be
filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent
record thereof. * * * If an appeal * * * is taken from * * * the decree and * * * the decree is affirmed,
then the certified copy * * * thereof of the decree shall be forwarded to the
Secretary of State within ten (10) days after receipt of the mandate from the
Supreme Court notifying the clerk of * * * the affirmance.
(2) Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality are enlarged as provided in Section 21-1-27, the governing body of the municipality, after the annexation ordinance has become effective, shall forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of the ordinance, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent record thereof.
SECTION 8. Any action on an ordinance proposing the enlargement of municipal boundaries that is pending before a court on the effective date of this act as a result of any prior law shall be withdrawn, and an election as provided in Section 21-1-27 may be held.
SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.
