Bill Text: MS SC502 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

Mississippi Senate Concurrent Resolution 502 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Constitutional amendment; reduce the size of the Legislature.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2011-02-01 - Died In Committee [SC502 Detail]

Download: Mississippi-2011-SC502-Introduced.html

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2011 Regular Session

To: Constitution

By: Senator(s) Michel

Senate Concurrent Resolution 502

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 254, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE LEGISLATURE.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, TWO-THIRDS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, WHICH TWO-THIRDS CONSISTS OF NOT LESS THAN A MAJORITY OF THE MEMBERS ELECTED TO EACH HOUSE, That the following amendment to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 be submitted to the qualified electors of the state for ratification or rejection at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2011:

Amend Section 254, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read as follows:

Section 254. The Legislature shall at its regular session in the second year following the 1980 decennial census and every ten (10) years thereafter, and may, at any other time, by joint resolution, by majority vote of all members of each house, apportion the state in accordance with the Constitution of the state and of the United States into consecutively numbered senatorial and representative districts of contiguous territory. The Senate shall consist of not more than fifty-two (52) Senators, and the House of Representatives shall consist of not more than one hundred twenty-two (122) Representatives, the number of members of each house to be determined by the Legislature.

In any reapportionment or redistricting of the Legislature based upon the decennial census for the year 2010, and thereafter, the number of Senators shall be forty (40) and the number of Representatives shall be ninety (90).

Should the Legislature adjourn, without apportioning itself as required hereby, the Governor by proclamation shall reconvene the Legislature within thirty (30) days in special apportionment session which shall not exceed thirty (30) consecutive days, during which no other business shall be transacted, and it shall be the mandatory duty of the Legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. Should a special apportionment session not adopt a joint resolution of apportionment as required hereby, a five-member commission consisting of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as chairman, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall immediately convene and within one hundred eighty (180) days of the adjournment of such special apportionment session apportion the Legislature, which apportionment shall be final upon filing with the Office of the Secretary of State. Each apportionment shall be effective for the next regularly scheduled elections of members of the Legislature.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State is hereby directed to give public notice of an election in the manner and for the time provided by Section 273 of the Constitution, and an election is hereby called and fixed to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2011, for the purpose of submitting this and other amendments to the Constitution to qualified electors of this state for approval or rejection, said election to be conducted and held as provided by law for statewide general elections.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the explanation of the amendment for the ballot shall read as follows:

"This proposed amendment reduces the size of the Mississippi Legislature.

In redistricting of the Legislature, the size will be reduced as follows:

After 2010 federal census: 40 Senators, 90 Representatives"

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is hereby directed to submit this resolution, immediately upon adoption by the Legislature, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.