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To: Judiciary A
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026
By: Representatives Burch, Lott
HOUSE BILL NO. 700
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 19-7-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
ALLOW FUNDS TO BE USED FOR ELECTRONIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL PURPOSES 2
FOR ANY CHANCERY OR CIRCUIT COURTROOM IN THE COUNTY; AND FOR 3
RELATED PURPOSES. 4
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 5
SECTION 1. Section 19-7-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 6
amended as follows: 7
19-7-31. (1) (a) The board of supervisors of each county 8
in the state shall have power, by an appropriate order or orders 9
on its minutes, to establish and maintain in the county courthouse 10
or other suitable public building adjacent or near thereto, a 11
public county law library under such rules, regulations and 12
supervision as it may from time to time ordain and establish, and 13
to that end, the board may accept gifts, grants, donations or 14
bequests of money, furniture, fixtures, books, documents, maps, 15
plats or other property suitable for that purpose. 16
(b) The board of supervisors shall have power to 17
exchange or sell duplicate volumes or sets of any such books or 18
furniture, and in case of sale, to invest the proceeds in other 19
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suitable books or furniture. The board may also purchase or lease 20
from time to time additional books, furniture, or equipment for 21
the public law library. 22
(c) The board of supervisors may also maintain the 23
books prescribed under this section in an electronic format. 24
(2) For the purpose of providing suitable quarters for the 25
public law library, the board of supervisors may, in its 26
discretion, expend such sums as may be deemed necessary or proper 27
for that purpose, and may also employ a suitable person as 28
librarian and pay the law librarian such salary as the board, in 29
its discretion, may determine. The board may employ additional 30
librarians or other employees on either a part-time or full-time 31
basis and may pay these additional employees as the board, in its 32
discretion, may determine. The board of supervisors, in their 33
discretion, may contract with the county or municipal library for 34
any staff or facilities as they deem necessary for the overall 35
management and operation of the county law library. The board of 36
supervisors may contract with the State Law Library for law 37
library services that may be offered by the State Law Library. 38
(3) If the public law library is established, all books, 39
documents, furniture and other property then belonging to the 40
county library, as provided for in Section 19-7-25, shall be 41
transferred to and become part of the public law library, and all 42
books, documents and publications donated by the state to the 43
county library shall also become a part of the public law library. 44
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In that case, Sections 19-7-25 and 19-25-65, relating to the 45
county library, shall be superseded in that county for as long as 46
the public law library is maintained in the county. 47
(4) The board of supervisors of any county that establishes 48
a public law library, in its discretion, may levy, by way of 49
resolution, additional court costs not exceeding Two Dollars and 50
Fifty Cents ($2.50) per case for each case, both civil and 51
criminal, filed in the chancery, circuit and county courts or any 52
of these in the county, and may levy, by way of resolution, 53
additional court costs not exceeding One Dollar and Fifty Cents 54
($1.50) per case for each case, both civil and criminal, filed in 55
the justice courts of the county, for the support of the library 56
authorized in the county. If the additional court costs 57
authorized in this section are levied, the clerk or judge of those 58
courts shall collect those costs for all cases filed in his court 59
and forward same to the chancery clerk, who shall deposit the same 60
in a special account in a county depository for support and 61
maintenance of the library, and the chancery clerk shall be 62
accountable for those funds. However, no such levy shall be made 63
against any cause of action the purpose of which is to commit any 64
person with mental illness, or alcoholic or narcotic addiction to 65
any institution for custodial or medical care, and no such tax 66
shall be collected under this subsection on any cause of action 67
that the proper clerk handling same deems to be in its very nature 68
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charitable and in which cause the clerk has not collected his own 69
legal fees. 70
(5) To accomplish the purposes of this section, the board of 71
supervisors may enter into such arrangement or arrangements with 72
the county bar association of any such county as may seem 73
advisable for the care and operation of the law library, and the 74
board may receive and consider, from time to time, such 75
recommendations as the bar association may deem appropriate 76
regarding the library. 77
(6) The board of supervisors of each county in which there 78
are two (2) judicial districts, in its discretion, may maintain a 79
law library in each judicial district. In those counties the 80
board, in its discretion, may pay from the county general fund or 81
from the special fund authorized in this section all the costs 82
authorized in this section, provided that the board shall not 83
spend in each judicial district less than the amount of the 84
special court costs authorized in this section and collected in 85
each such district. 86
(7) The governing authorities of any municipality, in their 87
discretion, by resolution duly adopted and entered on their 88
official minutes, may levy additional court costs not exceeding 89
One Dollar and Fifty Cents ($1.50) per case for each conviction in 90
the municipal court of the municipality, for the support and 91
maintenance of the county law library in the county within which 92
the municipality is located. The additional costs shall be 93
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ST: County law library; authorize use of money
for technological purposes.
collected by the clerk of the court, forwarded to the chancery 94
clerk of the county for deposit in a special account in the county 95
depository, and expended for support and maintenance of the county 96
law library in the same manner and in accordance with the same 97
procedure as provided for costs similarly collected in the 98
chancery, circuit, county and justice courts of the county. 99
(8) Funds collected under this section may also be used for 100
electronic and technological purposes related to the law library, 101
including, but not limited to, computers, hardware, software, 102
internet, online subscription services, legal research tools and 103
electronic records. 104
(9) Funds collected under this section that are not needed 105
for purposes related to the law library may be used for electronic 106
and technological purposes for any chancery and/or circuit 107
courtroom in the county, including, but not limited to, 108
installing, repairing and/or improving audio systems, video 109
systems, digital communications, recording of court proceedings, 110
evidence display, assisted listening and technical infrastructure. 111
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 112
and after July 1, 2026. 113