v'?-> CODE SSISSIPPI 1972 Annotated :• cers )nd Employees; Public Record's 25 Title . TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 7 TITLE 25 PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; PUBLIC RECORDS CHAP. BEGINNING SECTION 1. Public Officers; General Provisions 25-1-1 3. Salaries and Compensation 25-3-1 4. Ethics in Government 25-4-1 5. Removals From Office 25-5-1 7. Fees 25-7-1 9. Statewide Personnel System 25-9-1 11. Social Security and Public Employees' Retirement and Disability Benefits 25-11-1 13. Highway Safety and Patrol Retirement System 25-13-1 14. Government Employees Deferred Compensation Plan Law 25-14-1 15. Group Insurance for Public Employees 25-15-1 17. Cafeteria Fringe Benefit Plans 25-17-1 31 District Attorneys 25-31-1 32. Public Defenders 25-32-1 33. Notaries Public 25-33-1 41 Open Meetings 25-41-1 . 43. Administrative Procedures 25-43-1 45. Permit and Licensing Procedures 25-45-1 51. State Depository for Public Documents 25-51-1 53. Mississippi Department of InformationTechno- logy Services (MDITS) 25-53-1 55. Lost Records 25-55-1 57. Destruction of Records [Repealed] 25-57-1 58. Geographic Information System 25-58-1 59. Archives and Records Management 25-59-1 60. Local Government Records 25-60-1 61. Public Access to Public Records 25-61-1 63. Digital Signature Act 25-63-1 65. Agency, University and Community/Junior College Internal Auditing Program 25-65-1 Digitized by the Internet Archive 2013 in http://archive.org/cletails/govlawmscode197207 CODE MISSISSIPPI 1972 ANNOTATED ADOPTEDAS THE OFFICIALCODE OFTHE STATE OFMISSISSIPPI BYTHE 1972 SESSION OFTHE LEGISLATURE VOLUME SEVEN PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; PUBLIC RECORDS §§ 25-1-1 to 25-65-33 CONTAININGPERMANENT PUBLIC STATUTES OF MISSISSIPPI TO THE END OF THE 2010 REGULARAND 1ST EXTRAORDINARYLEGISLATIVE SESSIONS LexisNexis QUESTIONSABOUT THIS PUBLICATION? ForEDITORIALQUESTIONSconcerningthispublication,orREPRINTPERMISSION,pleasecall: 800-833-9844 ForCUSTOMERSERVICEASSISTANCEconcerningreplacementpages, shipments,billingorother matters,pleasecall: CustomerServiceDepartmentat 800-833-9844 OutsidetheUnitedStatesandCanada 518-487-3000 FAX 518-487-3584 ForINFORMATIONONOTHERMATTHEWBENDERPUBLICATIONS,pleasecall: Youraccountmanageror 800-223-1940 OutsidetheUnitedStatesandCanada 518-487-3000 Copyright © 1973—2010 by THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI All rights reserved. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registeredtrademarks, and Michie is a trademarkofReed Elsevier Properties, Inc., used underlicense. Matthew Benderis a registered trademark ofMatthew BenderProperties Inc. 4452914 ISBN 978-1-4224-9138-6 (Volume 7) ISBN 978-0-3270-9628-3 (Code set) LexisNexis Matthew Bender & Company, Inc. 701 E. Water Street, Charlottesville, VA22902-5389 www.lexisnexis.com (Pub.44510) PREFACE The Mississippi Code of 1972, which became effective on November 1, 1973, is the culmination of nearly four years of effort on the part of the Legislature, the Attorney General's office and the publishers, which brings together provisions ofgeneral statutory law having a common subject matter into a more orderly and logical framework of code titles and chapters, and employing a modern and effective section numbering system. A major by- product ofthe code revision will be the state-owned magnetic computer tape containingthe Mississippi Code of1972, whichwill be ofinvaluable assistance to the Legislature and to the state. The enabling act for the code was a recommendation of the Mississippi StateBar, whichresultedinthe consideration andpassage ofSenate Bill 1964, Chapter 465, Laws of 1970, signed into law by Governor John Bell Williams. The Code Committee provided for in that act was comprised of A. F. Summer,Attorney General, Heber Ladner, Secretary ofState, Representative Edgar J. Stephens, Jr., Chairman, HouseAppropriations Committee, Senator William G. Burgin, Jr., Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee, Repre- sentative H. L. Meredith, Jr., Chairman, House Judiciary"A"andJudiciaryen banc Committees, Senator E. K. Collins, Chairman, Senate Judiciary "A" and Judiciary en banc Committees, Representative Ney McKinley Gore, Jr., Chairman, HouseJudiciary"B"Committee, andSenatorWilliamE.Alexander, Chairman, Senate Judiciary "B" Committee. In 1972, Representative Marby Robert Penton and Senator Herman B. Decell, Chairman ofHouse and Senate Judiciary "B" Committees, respectively, became members of the Committee, replacingRepresentative Gore and Senator Collins, SenatorAlexanderhaving been appointed Chairman of Senate Judiciary "A" and Judiciary en banc Committees. The DeputyAttorney General, Delos H. Burks, served the Code Committee as Secretary. SpecialAssistantAttorneyGeneralFredJ. Lotterhos, under the supervision of the Attorney General, was assigned the principal responsibility for the supervision ofthe recodification, including the consider- ation and treatment ofsome 16,000 sections ofcode manuscript. Final legislative approval was given to the Mississippi Code of 1972 by passage of Senate Bill 2034, Laws of 1972, which was signed by Governor William L. Waller onApril 26, 1972. Acopy ofthat act is set out in Volume 1, following the Publisher's Foreword. The Code Committee is of the opinion that the recodification has been thoroughly and well accomplished, and will result in a greatly improved repository ofthe general statutory law ofthe state. A. F. Summer Attorney General hi PUBLISHER'S FOREWORD This 2010 Replacement Volume 7 ofthe Mississippi Code of 1972 Anno- tated represents material appearing in the original 1973 bound volume, the 1999 Replacement Volume 7, the 2003 Replacement Volume 7, and the 2006 Replacement Volume 7, as well as reflecting amendments, repeals, and new Code provisions enacted by the Mississippi Legislature through the 2010 Regular and 1st Extraordinary Legislative Sessions. This volume contains the full text of Title 25 of the Mississippi Code of 1972 Annotated, as amended through the 2010 Regular Legislative Session and the 1st Extraordinary Session. Case annotations are included based on decisions ofthe State and federal courts in cases arising in Mississippi. Many ofthese cases were decided under the former statutes in effect prior to the enactment ofthe Code of1972. These earlier cases have been moved to pertinent sections of the Code where they may be useful in interpreting the current statutes. Annotations to collateral research references are also included. To better serve our customers by making our annotations more current, LexisNexishas changedthe sourcesthatarereadtocreate annotationsforthis publication. Rather than waiting for cases to appear in printed reporters, we now read court decisions as they are released by the courts. Aconsequence of this more current reading ofcases, as they are posted online on LexisNexis, is thatthemostrecentcases annotatedmaynotyethaveprintreportercitations. These will be provided, as they become available, through later publications. This publication contains annotations taken from decisions ofthe Missis- sippi Supreme Court and the Court ofAppeals with decisiondates up to March 23, 2010, and decisions ofthe appropriate federal courts withdecision dates up to February 25, 2010. These cases will be printed in the following reporters: Southern Reporter, 3rd Series United States Supreme Court Reports Supreme Court Reporter United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition, 2nd Series Federal Reporter, 3rd Series Federal Supplement, 2nd Series Federal Rules Decisions Bankruptcy Reporter Additionally, annotations have been taken from the following sources: American Law Reports, 6th Series American Law Reports, Federal Series Mississippi College Law Review Mississippi Law Journal Finally, published Opinions ofthe Attorney General and opinions of the Ethics Commission have been examined for annotations. Publisher's Foreword A comprehensive Index appears at the end ofthis volume. Visit the LexisNexis website at http://www.lexisnexis.com for an online bookstore, technical support, customer support, and other company informa- tion. For further information or assistance, please call us toll-free at (800) 833-9844, fax us toll-free at (800) 643-1280, e-mail us at [email protected], or write to: Mississippi Code Editor, LexisNexis, 701 E. Water Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902-5389. October 2010 LexisNexis VI