John Duff, J.D., LL.M., Timothy Peeples, 3L, and Brad Rath, 3L
 

The following is a summary of coastal, fisheries, marine, and water resources related legislation enacted by the Mississippi legislature during the 1999 session.

Senate Resolution 4. Adopted March 30, 1999.
Amends Senate Resolution No. 38, 1998 Regular Session, to expand the membership of the Coastal Streams Water Basin District Study Committee to include the Senators who represent Stone, Pearl River, and George Counties.
 

Senate Resolution 57. Adopted March 30, 1999.
Creates a special study committee, consisting of nine Senators, to report on the effect of the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water management requirements on state and local governments. The report is due before February 1, 2000.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 18. (SB 2336) Enacted March 19, 1999. Effective March 19, 1999.
Appropriates additional funds to the Department of Environmental Quality for the purpose of defraying the Department's expenses for the fiscal years 1999 and 2000, especially to support ongoing efforts to determine the total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) of pollution of impaired waters in the State.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 304. (SB 2833) Enacted March 1, 1999. Effective March 1, 1999.
collection and disposal district.

1999 Mississippi Laws 308. (HB 906) Enacted March 8, 1999. Effective March 8, 1999.
Authorizes certain municipalities near Sardis Lake to enter into an agreement with the United States to acquire or lease real property, whether within or outside the corporate boundaries of such municipality, to develop parks, tourism and recreational facilities and supporting infrastructure.

1999 Mississippi Laws 311. (SB 2402) Enacted March 8, 1999. Effective March 8, 1999.
Amends § 49-4-39 by removing the repealer on the regulation of hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing, guide and outfitter services by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The commission shall prescribe the form and types of licenses for those activities and shall establish fees for the types of licenses, provided that the fee for guide services licenses does not exceed $150 and the fee for outfitters licenses does not exceed $250.

1999 Mississippi Laws 337. (SB 2821) Enacted March 15, 1999. Effective March 15, 1999.
Amends the Aquaculture Act of 1988 (§§ 79-22-15 and 79-22-23) to reflect the reorganization of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Department of Marine Resources, to authorize Marine Resources to regulate marine aquaculture programs, and to remove marine aquaculture from the jurisdiction of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

1999 Mississippi Laws 374. (HB 653) Enacted March 16, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Reenacts §§ 91-7-47, 91-7-63, 91-9-9, 91-9-107, and 93-13-15, all of which authorize trustees, executors, guardians and other fiduciaries to utilize their positions to ensure compliance with environmental laws by those over whom they are in charge.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 381. (HB 1422)\ Enacted March 16, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Creates a voluntary scenic streams stewardship program, administered by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, to promote conservation of streams that possess unique values. The stewardship program is voluntary and nonregulatory with an emphasis on local education, participation and support to maximize conservation efforts and to build and maintain a sense of stewardship among stream users and riparian landowners.

Once the Department evaluates a stream and determines it meets the eligibility criteria, and the Legislature enacts legislation approving the eligibility, local stream advisory councils are established to study whether a particular stream should be nominated for inclusion as a scenic stream. The Department and advisory council must develop a stewardship program which identifies uses along the stream and goals, objectives and action strategies to address the management of resources along the stream.

The Act also authorizes the Department to conduct a pilot program for several streams designated as eligible for inclusion in the State Scenic Streams Stewardship Program. Riparian landowners entering into a binding agreement for the management of lands in a pilot project shall be eligible for any subsequent incentives that are offered for participation in the State Scenic Streams Stewardship Program.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 385. (HB 560) Enacted March 17, 1999. Effective June 30, 1999.
Reenacts the Groundwater Protection Trust Fund to levy an environmental protection fee on motor fuels.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 386. (SB 561) Enacted March 17, 1999. Effective June 30, 1999.
Amends § 51-3-3 to extend its repealer date of July 1, 1999 to July 1, 2000, on the provision that defines "established minimum flow" as applied to the surface waters of the State.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 387. (HB 759) Enacted March 17, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Reenacts §§ 69-21-101 to 69-21-125 to establish the State Board of Agricultural Aviation, responsible for supervising the aerial application of agricultural applications in the State, promoting cooperation between applicators and the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, for licensing of persons engaged in such application of pesticides, poisons, seeds and chemicals, and for registering all agricultural aircraft and pilots.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 392. (SB 2536) Enacted March 16, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 21-17-1 to allow municipalities to lease surplus property to non-profit corporations at less than fair market value.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 397. (SB 2825) Enacted March 16, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 49-7-3 to revise requirements for proof of residency and domicile to receive a resident hunting or fishing license.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 401. (SB 2935) Enacted March 16, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 49-7-13 to clarify that a holder of a trapping license may catch and sell certain skins during trapping season.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 402. (SB 2958) Enacted March 16, 1999. Effective March 16, 1999.
Amends § 17-17-407 to allow landfilling of waste tires until July 1, 2000.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 421. (SB 2156) Enacted March 19, 1999. Effective March 19, 1999.
Amends § 25-9-120(2) to create the Personal Service Contract Review Board, upon which the Executive Directors of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Department of Environmental Quality sit to regulate the solicitation and selection of contractual services by the State Board of Education.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 431. (HB 826) Enacted March 19, 1999. Effective March 19, 1999.
Amends § 95-5-29 to increase the time to recover damages for cutting trees without consent to 24 months from the injury.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 437. (SB 2153) Enacted March 19, 1999. Effective March 19, 1999.
Creates the Metro Recreational Highway Authority to study use of the Pearl River Levee System for public roads and recreation.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 450. (SB 3105) Enacted March 19, 1999. Effective March 19, 1999.
Amends § 27-31-1 to exempt from ad valorem taxation property owned by nonprofit corporations created in response to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 if the nonprofit corporation: (1) is tax exempt; (2) assists in the implementation of the contingency plan created in response to the Oil Pollution Act; (3) engages primarily in programs to contain, clean up and mitigate spills of oil or other substances in U.S. coastal or tidal waters; and (4) uses the property for these purposes.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 454. (HB 1670) Enacted March 22, 1999. Effective March 22, 1999.
Provides for the issuance of bonds to fund the Water Pollution Control Emergency Loan Program to assist political subdivisions in making emergency improvements to water pollution abatement projects.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 464. (SB 3208) Enacted March 29, 1999. Effective March 29, 1999.
Creates the 1999 Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Improvements Fund for monies from the issuance of general obligation bonds to pay the costs of capital improvements, renovation, or repair to existing facilities, furnishing or equipping facilities, and purchasing real property for public facilities for specific Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks projects.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 472. (HB 1309) Enacted March 25, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Requires the State Department of Health to annually develop a list of nonviable and potentially nonviable community public water systems and provide free technical assistance to those systems.
 

1999 Mississippi Laws 479. (HB 537) Enacted March 29, 1999. Effective June 30, 1999.
Reenacts §§ 51-3-101 through 51-3-105, which establish the laws regarding the Mississippi Water Resources Advisory Council and revises the council's membership structure.

1999 Mississippi Laws 490. (HB 997) Enacted March 31, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 97-33-107 to allow the Gaming Commission to assess fees on the proceeds of electronic bingo machines and pull-tab machines and to remove the requirement that a lessor obtain a license from the Commission.

1999 Mississippi Laws 512. (HB 852) Enacted April 15, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends §§ 93-11-153 through 93-11-163 to authorize the suspension of a noncustodial parent's licenses, including the noncustodial parent's hunting and fishing licenses, when he or she fails to answer a subpoena or respond to a summons, to delete the requirement that a contempt citation be obtained before license suspensions are ordered, and to delete the requirement for interagency agreements for license suspension enforcement purposes.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 519. (HB 1304) Enacted April 16, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 49-15-29 to clarify that all commercial seafood licenses shall expire on the same date, to delete the requirement that the Commission on Marine Resources shall inspect certain seafood landings and to revise the license requirements and fees charged for catching, taking or transporting fish in state waters.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 527. (SB 2860) Enacted April 15, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Enacts the Statewide Scientific Information Management Act of 1999, which creates a Scientific Information Management System Coordination Council to develop and prepare a plan for the development and implementation of a management system to allow scientific information to be collected, processed, analyzed, managed, updated and accessed by users of the information. Members of the Council include the Executive Directors of the Department of Environmental Quality, Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, Marine Resources, and Chairman of the Mississippi Water Resources Advisory Council. The plan is due November 15, 2000.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 551. (SB 2436) Enacted April 21, 1999. Effective April 21, 1999.
Reconstitutes the membership and extends the life of the Joint Natural and Scenic River Study Committee for one year. The Committee Report is due to the Legislature by January 4, 2000.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 558. (SB 2756) Enacted April 21, 1999. Effective April 21, 1999.
Amends § 49-15-15 to provide the Commission on Marine Resources with full jurisdiction over marine aquatic life, and regulate any matters pertaining to seafood , suspend the issuance of licenses when necessary to impose a moratorium to conserve a fishery resource, monitor and maintain artificial fishing reefs in the marine waters of Mississippi and adjacent federal waters, accept donations for such reefs, and apply for any federal permits necessary for their construction or maintenance. Amends § 49-15-16 to authorize the Commission to develop a limited entry fisheries management program. Amends § 49-15-17 to establish the "Artificial Reef Program Account" to construct, monitor or maintain artificial reefs.

1999 Mississippi Laws 565. (SB 2982) Enacted April 21, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 19-5-177 to allow water and sewer districts to provide for the installation of residential sewage holding tanks and requiring the districts to maintain those tanks.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 566. (SB 3029) Enacted April 21, 1999. Effective April 21, 1999.
Authorizes the creation of shoreline and beach preservation districts and allows landowners to petition for the creation of such districts. The purpose of a district is to provide for the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and improvement of shoreline and beach improvement projects, including habitat restoration in Harrison and Hancock counties.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 571. (SB 2717) Enacted April 22, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
To delete the requirement for forfeiture of the hunting, trapping and fishing privileges of a person convicted of hunting, trapping, or fishing without a license but to include an administrative fee.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 573. (SB 2891) Enacted April 22, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Amends § 49-17-28 to designate the Permit Board as the state agency to act on water quality certifications required under the Clean Water Act and to require the Permit Board to delegate the issuance of certain water quality certifications to the Department of Environmental Quality.  

1999 Mississippi Laws 585. (SB 2804) Enacted April 22, 1999. Effective July 1, 1999.
Transfers the duties, powers, personnel, and resources of the Marine Law Enforcement Division of the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to the Department of Marine Resources, amends §§ 49-4-7, 49-15-3, -11, -21, -301, and 63-11-19 to conform to such changes, and amends § 49-15-21 to clarify the police powers of the Marine Law Enforcement Officers.

1999 Mississippi Laws 950. (SB 3228) Enacted April 1, 1999. Effective April 1, 1999.
Authorizes the Adams County Board of Supervisors to impose fees of 3.2% of the monthly gross revenue of gaming vessels which dock in the county.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 953. (SB 3233) Enacted April 1, 1999. Effective April 1, 1999.
Authorizes the Board of Supervisors of Jackson County to establish a wetlands mitigation bank for the purpose of offsetting wetlands losses to development and use.
 
1999 Mississippi Laws 998. (HB 1703)Enacted April 5, 1999. Effective April 5, 1999.
Amends Chapter 970, Local and Private Laws of 1997, to authorize the Board of Supervisors of Jackson County, acting through the Jackson County Port Authority, to extend the water and sewer services of Sunplex Light Industrial Park outside the park in order to make such services available to commercial service, general business, and residential development.
 

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