This text of Mississippi Const. art. 13, § 254 (Senatorial and Representative districts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Miss. Const. art. 13, § 254.
Full Text
The Legislature shall at its regular session in the second year following
the 1980 decennial census and every ten (10) years thereafter, and may,
at any other time, by joint resolution, by majority vote of all members of
each house, apportion the state in accordance with the Constitution of the
state and of the United States into consecutively numbered Senatorial and
Representative districts of contiguous territory. The Senate shall consist of
not more than fifty-two (52) Senators, and the House of Representatives
shall consist of not more than one hundred twenty-two (122)
Representatives, the number of members of each house to be determined
by the Legislature. Should the Legislature adjourn without apportioning
itself as required hereby, the Governor by proclamation shall reconvene
the Legislature within thirty (30) days in special apportionment session
which shall not exceed thirty (30) consecutive days, during which no other
business shall be transacted, and it shall be the mandatory duty of the
Legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. Should a special
apportionment session not adopt a joint resolution of apportionment as
required hereby, a five-member commission consisting of the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court as chairman, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
State, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro
tempore of the Senate shall immediately convene and within one hundred
eighty (180) days of the adjournment of such special apportionment
session apportion the Legislature, which apportionment shall be final upon
filing with the office of the Secretary of State. Each apportionment shall
be effective for the next regularly scheduled elections of members of the
Legislature.
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The Legislature shall at its regular session in the second year following
the 1980 decennial census and every ten (10) years thereafter, and may,
at any other time, by joint resolution, by majority vote of all members of
each house, apportion the state in accordance with the Constitution of the
state and of the United States into consecutively numbered Senatorial and
Representative districts of contiguous territory. The Senate shall consist of
not more than fifty-two (52) Senators, and the House of Representatives
shall consist of not more than one hundred twenty-two (122)
Representatives, the number of members of each house to be determined
by the Legislature. Should the Legislature adjourn without apportioning
itself as required hereby, the Governor by proclamation shall reconvene
the Legislature within thirty (30) days in special apportionment session
which shall not exceed thirty (30) consecutive days, during which no other
business shall be transacted, and it shall be the mandatory duty of the
Legislature to adopt a joint resolution of apportionment. Should a special
apportionment session not adopt a joint resolution of apportionment as
required hereby, a five-member commission consisting of the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court as chairman, the Attorney General, the Secretary of
State, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro
tempore of the Senate shall immediately convene and within one hundred
eighty (180) days of the adjournment of such special apportionment
session apportion the Legislature, which apportionment shall be final upon
filing with the office of the Secretary of State. Each apportionment shall
be effective for the next regularly scheduled elections of members of the
Legislature.
History
SOURCES: Laws, 1962, 2d Extraordinary Session, ch. 57, eff February 13, 1963; Laws, 1977, 2d Extraordinary Session, ch. 27, eff November 30, 1979. NOTE: Laws, 1962, 1st Extraordinary Session, ch. 18, which proposed the repeal of this section of the constitution, was not approved by the electorate. The 1962 amendment to Section 254 of the Constitution was proposed by Laws, 1962, 2d Extraordinary Session, ch. 57, and, upon ratification by the electorate on Feb. 15, 1963, was inserted by a proclamation of the Secretary of State on Feb. 13, 1963, by virtue of the authority vested in him by Section 273 of the Constitution, as amended. Laws, 1962, 2d Extraordinary Session, ch. 57, also provides as follows: “Be it further resolved, that it is the intent of this Resolution to provide by constitutional amendment for the apportionment of Senators and Representatives to be elected in 1963 to take office the first Tuesday after the first Monday of January, 1964, and thereafter, and nothing contained herein shall serve to or be construed to shorten or otherwise affect the term of office of any Senator or Representative presently serving in that capacity. The constitutional amendments submitted herewith shall, if approved, be self-executing for the purpose of providing for Senatorial and legislative representation to be elected in 1963 in the event implementing legislation is not enacted and approved.” In a 1966 decision of a three-judge federal court, Connor v. Johnson, 256 F Supp 962, supp op 265 F Supp 492, the provisions of this section, as amended, were declared to be unconstitutional and invalid for all future elections of members of the House of Representatives. The 1977 amendment to Section 254 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 was proposed by Laws, 1977, 2d Extraordinary Session, ch. 27, (Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 507), and upon ratification by the electorate on November 6, 1979.