MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representatives Carpenter, Alday, Brown (20th), Byrd, Kinkade, Pigott, Staples, Taylor, Turner
AN ACT TO TRANSFER LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DUTIES OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION RELATED TO THE MOTOR CARRIER REGULATORY LAW TO THE MOTOR CARRIER DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI HIGHWAY SAFETY PATROL WITHIN THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY; TO AMEND SECTIONS 77-7-16 AND 45-3-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; TO AMEND SECTION 25-13-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXCLUDE TRANSFERRED PERSONNEL FROM THE HIGHWAY SAFETY PATROL RETIREMENT SYSTEM; TO REPEAL SECTION 77-1-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDED FOR THE EMPLOYMENT OF PERSONNEL BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO ENFORCE THE MOTOR CARRIER REGULATORY LAW; TO REPEAL SECTION 77-1-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDED FOR THE TRANSFER OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL OF MOTOR CARRIER REGULATORY LAW TO THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FROM THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION; TO REPEAL SECTION 77-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH AUTHORIZES THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO PROVIDE FOR THE PAYMENT OF EMPLOYEES ENFORCING THE MOTOR CARRIER REGULATORY LAW; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) The Mississippi Department of Transportation shall transfer employees, equipment, inventory and resources of the department employed and used to enforce the Motor Carrier Regulatory Law of 1938 to the Motor Carrier Division of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol within the Mississippi Department of Public Safety on July 1, 2014. The transfer of personnel shall be commensurate with the number and classification of positions allocated to that law enforcement. The transfer also shall only include the personnel who enforce the Motor Carrier Regulatory Law of 1938 in vehicles.
(2) Any reference in any statute, rule or regulation to law enforcement duties being performed by the Mississippi Department of Transportation requiring the use of vehicles to enforce shall be construed to mean law enforcement duties being performed by the Motor Carrier Division of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol within the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
SECTION 2. Section 77-7-16, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
77-7-16. (1) Supervision
and inspection of the safe operation and the safe use of equipment of motor
vehicles operating in the state shall be a specified duty of * * *
the Motor Carrier Division of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol within the
Mississippi Department of Public Safety. * * * The Mississippi
Transportation Commission shall promulgate as its own the rules, regulations,
requirements and classifications of the United States Department of
Transportation or any successor federal agency thereof charged with the
regulation of motor vehicle safety * * *. The
Motor Carrier Division of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, shall enforce
such rules, regulations, requirements and classifications. * * *
The Mississippi Transportation Commission shall establish a system of
reciprocity with other states to facilitate the inspection of motor vehicles
provided for in this subsection.
(2) The * * *
Motor Carrier Division of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol within the
Mississippi Department of Public Safety shall have the authority to inspect for
safe operation and safe use of equipment the following motor vehicles:
(a) Each holder of a certificate of convenience and necessity, a permit to operate as a contract carrier or interstate permit;
(b) Any individual, corporation or partnership engaged in a commercial enterprise operating a single motor vehicle or those in combination with a manufacturer's gross vehicle rating of more than ten thousand (10,000) pounds; and
(c) Any individual, corporation or partnership operating a motor vehicle of any gross weight transporting hazardous material that requires placarding under the Federal Hazardous Material Regulations.
(3) This section shall not apply to the following:
(a) Motor vehicles employed to transport school children and teachers;
(b) Motor vehicles owned and operated by the United States, District of Columbia or any state or any municipality or any other political subdivision of this state;
(c) Motor vehicles engaged in the occasional transportation of personal property without compensation by individuals which is not in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise;
(d) Motor vehicles engaged in the transportation of human corpses or sick or injured persons;
(e) Motor vehicles engaged in emergency or related operations;
(f) Motor vehicles engaged in the private transportation of passengers;
(g) Motor vehicles, including pickup trucks, that have a GVWR or GCWR of Twenty-six Thousand (26,000) pounds or less, operating intrastate only, provided that such vehicle does not:
(i) Transport hazardous material requiring a placard; or
(ii) Transport sixteen (16) or more passengers, including the driver.
(h) Motor vehicles owned and operated by any farmer who:
(i) Is using the vehicle to transport agricultural products from a farm owned by the farmer, or to transport farm machinery or farm supplies to or from a farm owned by the farmer;
(ii) Is not using the vehicle to transport hazardous materials of a type or quantity that requires the vehicle to be placarded in accordance with the Federal Hazardous Material Regulations in CFR 49 part 177.823; and
(iii) Is using the vehicle within one hundred fifty (150) air miles of the farmer's farm, and the vehicle is a private motor carrier of property.
(i) Motor vehicles engaged in the transportation of logs and pulpwood between the point of harvest and the first point of processing the harvested product;
(j) Motor vehicles engaged exclusively in hauling gravel, soil or other unmanufactured road building materials;
(k) As to hours of service only, utility service vehicles owned or operated by public utilities subject to regulation by the commission, while in intrastate commerce within this state, with a manufacturer's gross vehicle rating of less than twenty-six thousand one (26,001) pounds, unless the vehicle:
(i) Transports hazardous materials requiring a placard; or
(ii) Is designed or used to transport sixteen (16) or more people, including the driver.
(4) Anyone who violates or fails to comply with this section shall be subject to the penalties as provided for in Section 77-7-311, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 3. Section 45-3-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
45-3-21. (1) The powers and duties of the Highway Safety Patrol shall be, in addition to all others prescribed by law, as follows:
(a) To enforce all of the traffic laws, rules and regulations of the State of Mississippi upon all highways of the state highway system and the rights-of-way of such highways; provided, however, that if any person commits an offense upon the state highway system and be pursued by a member of the Highway Safety Patrol, such patrol officer may pursue and apprehend such offender upon any of the highways or public roads of this state, or to any other place to which such offender may flee.
(b) To enforce all rules and regulations of the commissioner promulgated pursuant to legal authority.
(c) When so directed by the Governor, to enforce any of the laws of this state upon any of the highways or public roads thereof.
(d) Upon the request
of the * * * Department of Revenue, and with the approval of the
Governor, to enforce all of the provisions of law with reference to the
registration, license and taxation of vehicles using the highways of this
state, and relative to the sizes, weights and load limits of such vehicles, and
to enforce the provisions of all other laws administered by the * * *
Department
of Revenue upon any of the highways or public roads of this state; and for
such purpose the Highway Safety Patrol shall have the authority to collect and
receive all taxes which may be due under any of such laws, and to report and
remit same to the * * * Department of Revenue in the manner required by
law, or the rules and regulations of the commission.
(e) * * *
To enforce
the Mississippi Motor Carrier Regulatory Law of 1938 and rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder.
(f) To arrest without warrant any person or persons committing or attempting to commit any misdemeanor, felony or breach of the peace within their presence or view, and to pursue and so arrest any person committing such an offense to and at any place in the State of Mississippi where he may go or be. Nothing herein shall be construed as granting the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol general police powers.
(g) To aid and assist any law enforcement officer whose life or safety is in jeopardy. Additionally, officers of the Highway Safety Patrol may arrest without warrant any fugitive from justice who has escaped or who is using the highways of the state in an attempt to flee. With the approval of the commissioner or his designee, officers of the Highway Safety Patrol may assist other law enforcement agencies in manhunts for convicted felons who have escaped and/or for alleged felons where there is probable cause to believe that the person being sought committed the felony and a felony had actually been committed.
(h) To cooperate with the State Forest Service by reporting all forest fires.
(i) Upon request of the sheriff or his designee, or board of supervisors of any county or the chief of police or mayor of any municipality, and when so instructed by the commissioner or his designee, to respond to calls for assistance in a law enforcement incident; such request and action shall be noted and clearly reflected on the radio logs of both the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol district substation and that of the requesting agency, entered on the local NCIC terminal, if available, and a request in writing shall follow within forty-eight (48) hours. Additionally, the time of commencement and termination of the specific law enforcement incident shall be clearly noted on the radio logs of both law enforcement agencies.
(2) The Legislature declares that the primary law enforcement officer in any county in the State of Mississippi is the duly qualified and elected sheriff thereof, but for the purposes of this subsection there is hereby vested in the Department of Public Safety, in addition to the powers hereinabove mentioned and the other provisions of this section under the terms and limitations hereinafter mentioned and for the purpose of insuring domestic tranquility and for the purpose of preventing or suppressing, or both, crimes of violence, acts and conduct calculated to, or which may, provoke or lead to violence and/or incite riots, mobs, mob violence, a breach of the peace, and acts of intimidation or terror, the powers and duties to include the enforcement of all the laws of the State of Mississippi relating to such purposes, to investigate any violation of the laws of the State of Mississippi and to aid in the arrest and prosecution of persons charged with violating the laws of the State of Mississippi which relate to such purposes. Investigators of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety shall have general police powers to enforce all the laws of the State of Mississippi. All officers of the Department of Public Safety charged with the enforcement of the laws administered by that agency, for the purposes herein set forth, shall have full power to investigate, prevent, apprehend and arrest law violators anywhere in the state, and shall be vested with the power of general police officers in the performance of their duties. The officers of the Department of Public Safety are authorized and empowered to carry and use firearms and other weapons deemed necessary in the discharge of their duties as such and are also empowered to serve warrants and subpoenas issued under the authority of the State of Mississippi. The Governor shall be authorized to offer and pay suitable rewards to persons aiding in the investigation, apprehension and conviction of persons charged with acts of violence, or threats of violence or intimidation or acts of terrorism. The additional powers herein granted to or vested in the Department of Public Safety or any of its officers or employees by this section, excepting investigating powers, and those powers of investigators who shall have general police power, being the investigators in the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Public Safety, shall not be exercised by the Department of Public Safety, or any of its officers or employees, except upon authority and direction of the Governor or Acting Governor, by proclamation duly signed, in the following instances, to wit:
(a) When requested by the sheriff or board of supervisors of any county or the mayor of any municipality on the grounds that mob violence, crimes of violence, acts and conduct of terrorism, riots or acts of intimidation, or either, calculated to or which may provoke violence or incite riots, mobs, mob violence, violence, or lead to any breach of the peace, or either, and acts of intimidation or terror are anticipated, and when such acts or conduct in the opinion of the Governor or Acting Governor would provoke violence or any of the foregoing acts or conduct set out in this subsection, and the sheriff or mayor, as the case may be, lacks adequate police force to prevent or suppress the same.
(b) Acting upon evidence submitted to him by the Department of Public Safety, or other investigating agency authorized by the Governor or Acting Governor to make such investigations, because of the failure or refusal of the sheriff of any county or mayor of any municipality to take action or employ such means at his disposal, to prevent or suppress the acts, conduct or offenses provided for in subsection (1) of this section, the Governor or Acting Governor deems it necessary to invoke the powers and authority vested in the Department of Public Safety.
(c) The Governor or Acting Governor is hereby authorized and empowered to issue his proclamation invoking the powers and authority vested by this paragraph, as provided in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, and when the Governor or Acting Governor issues said proclamation in accordance herewith, said proclamation shall become effective upon the signing thereof and shall continue in full force and effect for a period of ninety (90) days, or for a shorter period if otherwise ordered by the Governor or Acting Governor. At the signing of the proclamation by the Governor or Acting Governor, the Department of Public Safety and its officers and employees shall thereupon be authorized to exercise the additional power and authority vested in them by this paragraph. The Governor and Acting Governor may issue additional proclamations for periods of ninety (90) days each under the authority of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection (2).
(3) All proclamations issued by the Governor or Acting Governor shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State on the next succeeding business day.
(4) It is not the intention of this section to vest the wide powers and authority herein provided for, as general powers of the Department of Public Safety, and the same are not hereby so vested, but to limit these general powers to cases and incidents wherein it is deemed necessary to prevent or suppress the offenses and conditions herein mentioned in this and other subsections of this section, and under the terms and conditions hereinabove enumerated, it being the sense of the Legislature that the prime duties of the Department of Public Safety are to patrol the highways of this state and enforce the highway safety laws.
(5) Patrol officers shall have no interest in any costs in the prosecution of any case through any court; nor shall any patrol officer receive any fee as a witness in any court held in this state, whether a state or federal court.
(6) Provided, however, that the general police power vested by virtue of the terms of subsection (2) of this section is solely for the purposes set out in said subsection.
SECTION 4. Section 25-13-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-13-3. As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term "Highway Patrol or Highway Safety Patrol" for the purpose of establishing membership in this system for persons presently employed by the Highway Safety Patrol shall mean and include all the officers of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol who have completed a course of instruction in an authorized highway patrol training school on general law enforcement, and who have served for a period of at least five (5) years prior to July 1, 1958, as a uniformed officer of the Highway Safety Patrol in the enforcement of the traffic laws of the State of Mississippi, or in the driver's license division, or who are now engaged in such service. New members shall include all the officers of the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol who have completed a course of instruction in an authorized highway patrol training school on general law enforcement, and who serve as sworn officers of the Highway Patrol in the enforcement of the laws of the State of Mississippi; however, new members shall not include personnel in positions transferred from the Mississippi Department of Transportation under Section 1 of this act.
Any former sworn officer of the Highway Safety Patrol who returns to service with the Highway Safety Patrol in any capacity, and who has had not less than two (2) years of prior service as a sworn officer of the Highway Safety Patrol, and who was disabled by wounds or accident in line of duty, may become a member of the Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System even though his present duties would not otherwise qualify him for membership, and he may continue membership so long as he remains in the employ of the Highway Safety Patrol.
Membership in the Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System shall be retroactive to the date of such patrolman's return to employment with the Highway Safety Patrol, and any funds contributed by him, previous to July 1, 1958, to the Public Employees' Retirement System shall be transferred to his credit in the Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System, and the employer's contributions made to the Public Employees' Retirement System for the patrolman shall also be transferred to the employee's credit in the Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System; and the difference between the contributions for both the employer and the employee made to the Public Employees' Retirement System, and those which should have been made to the Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System by both employer and employee for the patrolman since the date of his return to the Highway Safety Patrol shall be paid into the Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System.
In order to be eligible for service retirement benefits under this retirement system, any member must have served at least five (5) years as a sworn officer of the Highway Patrol engaged in the enforcement of the laws of the State of Mississippi, or at least five (5) years as a sworn agent of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, or a combination of at least five (5) years as a sworn agent of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and as a sworn officer of the Highway Patrol. If the officer is transferred from duty making him eligible for membership in this retirement system to other duties for which credit is not allowed by this system, and he has not been credited with a minimum of five (5) years in this system as a sworn officer of the Highway Patrol engaged in the enforcement of the laws of this state, then an amount as determined by the Public Employees' Retirement System shall be transferred from this system to his account in the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi to make him a member of that system with full credit for his years of service with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, and he shall become a member of the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi with prior service credits. The amount that is determined to be necessary to be transferred shall be paid first from the member's total contributions in the Highway Safety Patrol System, plus interest, so that all of those funds are transferred, and any remainder shall be paid from the employer's accumulation account.
SECTION 5. Section 77-1-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the employment of personnel by the Public Service Commission to enforce the Motor Carrier Regulatory Law, is repealed.
SECTION 6. Section 77-1-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the transfer law enforcement personnel of Motor Carrier Regulatory Law to the Mississippi Department of Transportation from the Public Service Commission, is repealed.
SECTION 7. Section 77-1-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, which authorizes the Public Service Commission to provide for the payment of employees enforcing the Motor Carrier Regulatory Law, is repealed.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.