§ 7-1-3 — Jurisdiction, powers, and duties

(a) The county commissions, through their clerks, shall have the custody of all deeds and other papers presented for record in their counties and the same shall be preserved therein, or otherwise disposed of as now is, or may be prescribed by law. They shall have jurisdiction in all matters of probate, the appointment and qualification of personal representatives, guardians, committees, curators and the settlement of their accounts and in all matters relating to apprentices. They shall also, under the rules as now are, or may be prescribed by law, have the superintendence and administration of the internal police and fiscal affairs of their counties, including the establishment and regulation of roads, ways, streets, avenues, drives and the like, and the naming or renaming thereof, in cooperation with local postal authorities, the Division of Highways and the directors of county emergency communications centers, to assure uniform, nonduplicative conversion of all rural routes to city-type addressing on a permanent basis, bridges, public landings, ferries and mills, with authority to lay and disburse the county levies. They shall, in all cases of contest, judge of the election, qualification and returns of their own members, and of all county and district officers, subject to appeal as prescribed by law. The tribunals as have been heretofore established by the Legislature under and by virtue of section thirty-four, article VIII of the Constitution of 1872, for police and fiscal purposes, shall, until otherwise provided by law, remain and continue as at present constituted in the counties in which they have been respectively established, and shall be and act as to police and fiscal matters in lieu of the county commission herein mentioned, until otherwise provided by law. And until otherwise provided by law, the clerk as is mentioned in section twenty-six of said article, as amended, shall exercise any powers and discharge any duties heretofore conferred on, or required of, any court or tribunal established for judicial purposes under said section, or the clerk of the court or tribunal, respectively, respecting the recording and preservation of deeds and other papers presented for record, matters of probate, the appointment and qualification of personal representatives, guardians, committees, curators and the settlement of their accounts and in all matters relating to apprentices. The county commission may not limit the right of any person to purchase, possess, transfer, own, carry, transport, sell or store any revolver, pistol, rifle or shotgun or any ammunition or ammunition components to be used therewith nor to so regulate the keeping of gunpowder so as to, directly or indirectly, prohibit the ownership of the ammunition:Provided, That no provision in this section may be construed to limit the authority of a county to restrict the commercial use of real estate in designated areas through planning or zoning ordinance.

(b) County commissions may not adopt or enact an ordinance, rule, license requirement, or other authorization that contravenes or is stricter than any state law, rule, or regulation relating to agricultural operations, as defined in §19-19-2 of this code. Any ordinance, rule, regulation, license requirement, or other authorization previously adopted by a county commission that contravenes or is stricter than any state law, rule, or regulation regarding agricultural operations is revoked.

(c) County commissions may not adopt an ordinance, rule, or regulation, or take other action, that prohibits the purchase, or alters the permissible use or application, of any federally or state-registered pesticide, herbicide, or insecticide product.

Legislative History

2024 Reg. Sess., SB171; 2023 Reg. Sess., SB585; 2013 Reg. Sess., HB2760; 1999 Reg. Sess., SB148; 1995 Reg. Sess., SB565