HB 4

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2026 Regular Session
To: County Affairs
By: Representatives Barton, Anderson (110th), Hale
House Bill 4
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 21-1-27, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972,
TO PROVIDE FOR AN ELECTION ON THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION IN BOTH THE
MUNICIPALITY AND THE TERRITORY PROPOSED TO BE ANNEXED WHEN THE GOVERNING
AUTHORITIES OF A MUNICIPALITY DESIRE TO ENLARGE ITS BOUNDARIES; TO AMEND
SECTIONS 21-1-29, 21-1-31, 21-1-33, 21-1-35, 21-1-37 AND 21-1-39, MISSISSIPPI
CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION FROM CHANCERY
COURT PROCEEDINGS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
���� BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
���� SECTION 1.� Section
21-1-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-27.� (1)� (a)�
The limits and boundaries of existing cities, towns and villages shall remain
as now established until altered in the manner hereinafter provided.� When any
municipality * * *shall
desires to enlarge or contract * * *the its boundaries * * *thereof by adding * * *thereto adjacent unincorporated territory or
excluding * * *therefrom
from its boundaries any part of the incorporated territory of * * *such the municipality, the governing
authorities of such municipality shall pass an ordinance defining with
certainty the territory proposed to be included in or excluded from the
corporate limits, and also defining the entire boundary as changed.  * * *In the event If the municipality desires
to enlarge * * *such
its boundaries, * * *
such the ordinance shall in general terms describe the
proposed improvements to be made in the annexed territory, the manner and
extent of such improvements, and the approximate time within which such
improvements are to be made; * * *such the ordinance shall also contain a
statement of the municipal or public services which such municipality proposes
to render in such annexed territory.  * * *In the event If the municipality * * *shall desires to contract its
boundaries, such ordinance shall contain a statement of the reasons for * * *such the contraction and a statement
showing * * *whereby
how the public convenience and necessity would be served * * *thereby by the contraction.
��������� (b)� If twenty
percent (20%) of the qualified electors residing in the territory proposed to
be annexed by a municipality petitions the governing body of the municipality
for an election on the question of the proposed annexation, within sixty (60)
days after public notice of the adoption of the annexation ordinance, the
appropriate election officials shall hold separate elections in the
municipality and in the territory proposed to be annexed on the question of the
proposed annexation.� The elections shall be held within sixty (60) days after
certification of the petition by the municipal clerk.� Notice of the elections
shall be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks before the
election date in a newspaper having a general circulation in the county or
counties in which the municipality and the territory proposed to be annexed are
located.� The first publication shall be made not less than twenty-one (21)
days before the election date.� The elections shall be held in the same manner
as are other elections. The annexation shall not be permitted or approved
unless both the electors in the municipality and in the territory proposed to
be annexed approve the annexation by majority vote of those electors voting in
the election.� If fewer than a majority of the qualified electors voting in
each election vote against the ordinance, the ordinance shall be approved.� If
a majority of the qualified electors voting in each election vote against the
ordinance, the ordinance shall not be approved.� If approved in the elections,
the ordinance shall become effective ten (10) days after the date of the final
determination of the results of the elections or on a later date that is
specified in the ordinance.� If a petition for the election is not filed, the
ordinance shall become effective sixty (60) days after public notice of the
adoption of the ordinance or on a later date that is specified in the
ordinance. If the ordinance is not approved in the elections, the municipality
shall not adopt another ordinance proposing the annexation of any of the same
territory for a period of five (5) years from the date of the election.
���� SECTION 2.� Section
21-1-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-29.� When any * * * such ordinance * * * shall be
proposing to contract the municipal boundaries is passed by the
municipal authorities, * * *
such the municipal authorities shall file a petition
in the chancery court of the county in which * * * such the municipality is located * * *; however, when a municipality wishes to annex or extend
its boundaries across and into an adjoining county such municipal authorities
shall file a petition in the chancery court of the county in which such
territory is located.� The petition shall recite the fact of the
adoption of * * * such
the ordinance and shall pray that the * * *, enlargement or contraction of the municipal
boundaries * * * , as the
case may be, shall be ratified, approved and confirmed by the
court.� There shall be attached to * * * such the petition, as exhibits * * * thereto, a certified copy of the
ordinance adopted by the municipal authorities and a map or plat of the
municipal boundaries as they will exist * * * in event such enlargement or if the contraction
becomes effective.
���� SECTION 3.� Section
21-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-31.� Upon the filing of * * * such the petition and upon
application therefor by the petitioner, the chancellor shall fix a date
certain, either in term time or in vacation, when a hearing on * * * said the petition will be held,
and notice * * * thereof
of the hearing shall be given in the same manner and for the same
length of time as is provided in Section 21-1-15 with regard to the creation of
municipal corporations * * *,
and a.� All parties interested in, affected by, or being
aggrieved by * * * said
proposed enlargement or the contraction shall have the
right to appear at such hearing and present their objection to * * * such proposed enlargement or the
contraction. * * * �However, in all cases of the enlargement of
municipalities where any of the territory proposed to be incorporated is
located within three (3) miles of another existing municipality, then such
other existing municipality shall be made a party defendant to said petition
and shall be served with process in the manner provided by law, which process
shall be served at least thirty (30) days prior to the date set for the
hearing.
���� SECTION 4.� Section
21-1-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-33.� (1)� If the
chancellor finds from the evidence presented at the hearing that the proposed * * *
enlargement or contraction is
reasonable and is required by the public convenience and necessity * * *and, in the event of an enlargement of a municipality,
that reasonable public and municipal services will be rendered in the annexed
territory within a reasonable time and that the governing authority
of the municipality complied with the provisions of Section 21-1-27, the
chancellor shall enter a decree approving, ratifying and confirming the
proposed * * *enlargement
or contraction, and describing the boundaries of the municipality as
altered.� In so doing, the chancellor shall have the right and the power
to modify the proposed * * *enlargement
or contraction by decreasing the territory to be * * *included in or excluded from the municipality,
as the case may be.
���� (2)� If the chancellor shall
find from the evidence that the * * *proposed enlargement or contraction * * *, as the case may be, is unreasonable and is
not required by the public convenience and necessity, or in the event * * *
of an enlargement of a municipality, that the
governing authority of the municipality failed to comply with the provisions of
Section 21-1-27, then he shall enter a decree denying the * * *enlargement or contraction.
���� (3)� In any event, the
decree of the chancellor shall become effective after the passage of ten (10)
days from the date * * *
thereof of the decree or, in the event an appeal is taken
therefrom, within ten (10) days from the final determination of the appeal.� In
any proceeding under this section the burden shall be upon the municipal
authorities to show that the proposed * * *enlargement or contraction is reasonable.
���� SECTION 5.� Section
21-1-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-35.  * * * In the event If no objection is
made to the petition for the * * * enlargement or contraction of the
municipal boundaries, the municipality shall be taxed with all costs of the
proceedings.  * * * In the
event If the objection is made, * * * such the costs may be taxed in * * * such the manner * * *as the chancellor shall determine to be
equitable pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.  * * * In the event of If there is an
appeal from the judgment of the chancellor, the costs incurred in the appeal
shall be taxed against the appellant if the judgment * * * be is affirmed, and against the
appellee if the judgment * * * be is reversed.
���� SECTION 6.� Section
21-1-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-37.� If the
municipality or any other interested person who was a party to the proceedings
in the chancery court * * *
be is aggrieved by the decree of the chancellor regarding
contraction of the municipal boundaries, then * * *such the municipality or other person
may prosecute an appeal * * * therefrom from the chancellor's decree within
the time and in the manner and with like effect as is provided in Section 21-1-21
in the case of appeals from the decree of the chancellor with regard to the
creation of a municipal corporation.
���� SECTION 7.� Section
21-1-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
���� 21-1-39.� (1)�
Whenever the corporate limits of any municipality * * * shall be enlarged or are
contracted, as herein provided, the chancery clerk shall forward, after
the expiration of ten (10) days from the date of * * * such the decree if no appeal be
taken therefrom, * * *
forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of * * * such the decree, which shall be
filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and shall remain a permanent
record thereof.  * * * In
the event If an appeal * * * be is taken from * * * such the decree and * * * such the decree is affirmed,
then the certified copy * * * thereof of the decree shall be forwarded to the
Secretary of State within ten (10) days after receipt of the mandate from the
Supreme Court notifying the clerk of * * * such the affirmance.
���� (2)� Whenever the
corporate limits of any municipality are enlarged as provided in Section 21-1-27,
the governing body of the municipality, after the annexation ordinance has
become effective, shall forward to the Secretary of State a certified copy of
the ordinance, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and
shall remain a permanent record thereof.
���� SECTION 8.�
Any action on an ordinance proposing the enlargement of municipal boundaries
that is pending before a court on the effective date of this act as a result of
any prior law shall be withdrawn, and an election as provided in Section 21-1-27
may be held.
���� SECTION 9.� This act
shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.