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Committee adopts editorial corrections to Mississippi Code and merges several amendments, approves retroactive pay correction
Summary
The code committee voted to approve a package of non‑substantive "manifest" corrections across the Mississippi Code, to integrate seven multi‑bill amendments so highlighted legislative language is preserved, and to retroactively correct an investigator salary to $75,000 effective July 1.
The code committee voted to adopt a package of editorial corrections to the Mississippi Code and to integrate several amendments so recent legislative language is preserved.
Ronnie Fripp, who presented the packet, told the committee these are "manifest errors" identified by staff, proofreaders, attorneys and the LexisNexis editor and cited the committee's authority to correct such errors under section 1‑1‑109. He said the corrections are "minor non‑substantive errors" but should be fixed when the error and the intended text are both clear on the face of the code.
Fripp offered examples that included correcting incorrect cross‑references and changing usages of "insure" to "ensure" where appropriate. He also explained several technical updates tied to a renumbering (an existing chapter becoming an article) that required internal references to be adjusted.
The committee voted to adopt the listed editorial changes for the items on pages 1–12 of the packet.
Fripp additionally raised a separate issue arising from a special session bill (House Bill 49) that amended judicial redistricting but did not carry forward a regular‑session change that increased investigators' salaries. "The effect of that is that the salary increase is not able to be implemented without a change here," Fripp said, and he asked that the code correction be made retroactive to July 1 so the higher pay already being paid has legal footing. The committee approved changing the figure in the code from $63,000 to $75,000 effective 07/01/2025.
Staff then explained the committee's approach to integrating multiple amendments to the same code section: first look for controlling language in the bills, then accept standalone non‑conflicting amendments, and if neither applies use the usual last‑in‑time effective‑date analysis. The packet identified seven code sections recommended for integration to preserve highlighted language, including section 25‑53‑5 (powers and duties of ITS, to preserve cloud‑based data‑exchange language), section 27‑35‑50 (ad valorem valuation language tied to poultry house evaluation), section 31‑11‑3 (raising DFA authority to transfer $3,000,000 in bond funds to community colleges), and section 41‑19‑33 (regional commissions within the Department of Mental Health and language expanding certified community behavioral health clinics). Staff also identified technical fixes for the landlord‑tenant act and conforming language tied to the safe solicitation permit act.
A committee member flagged a technical placement issue on page 57 — that the acronym "IUR" (insured unemployment rate) should appear after the word "rate" — and staff said that correction would be added as an additional code error if the integrations were approved.
A motion to integrate the proposed code sections as presented and to make the integrations retroactive to each bill's effective date passed unanimously.
What happens next: the committee's approved integrations and editorial corrections will be incorporated into the code database and the retroactive correction to the investigator salary will be recorded with an effective date of July 1, 2025.
