MS 2023-07-M-Watson-July-7-2023-Effective-Dates-in-2023-Mississippi-Senate-Bill-No-2353 July 7, 2023

When a Mississippi bill stages two amendments with different effective dates, do the other unrelated subsections also wait?

Short answer: The January 1, 2024 effective date in the second amendment to Section 23-15-227(1) in SB 2353 applies only to that amendment. Sections 1(2), (3), (4), and (5) of SB 2353, which addressed other poll manager compensation rules, took effect July 1, 2023, the act's general effective date.

Disclaimer: This is an official Mississippi Attorney General opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Mississippi attorney for advice on your specific situation.

Subject

Effective Dates in 2023 Senate Bill 2353

Recipient

The Honorable Michael Watson, Mississippi Secretary of State

Plain-English summary

SB 2353 amended the poll manager compensation statute, Section 23-15-227, in two stages. The first amendment, in effect July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023, set a $75 base poll-manager pay with a discretionary additional amount up to $125. The second amendment, effective January 1, 2024, flipped the structure: a $125 base with a discretionary additional amount up to $75. Other subsections of SB 2353 (subsections 1(2) through 1(5)) addressed travel reimbursement, payment from the county treasury, scope of compensation, and Secretary of State rulemaking authority for COVID-19-era polling place safety.

The Secretary of State asked whether the January 1, 2024 effective date applied only to the second amendment of subsection 1(1), or whether it also delayed subsections 1(2) through (5). The AG read the bill as plainly limiting the January 1 date to the second amendment of subsection 1(1). Section 4 of the act stated, "This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023." That general effective date governs everything except the parts the bill specifically delayed. Subsections 1(2) through (5) thus took effect July 1, 2023.

What this means for you

Circuit clerks and county election commissioners

For elections held between July 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023, you applied the $75 base + up to $125 discretionary structure. From January 1, 2024, the staircase flipped to $125 base + up to $75 discretionary. Travel reimbursement (Section 1(2)), the payment-from-county-treasury rule (Section 1(3)), the full-payment-for-the-day rule (Section 1(4)), and the Secretary of State's polling-place-safety rulemaking authority (Section 1(5)) all applied from July 1, 2023.

Poll managers

You should have seen the first compensation structure for any election worked from July 1 through December 31, 2023, and the second structure starting in 2024. Travel and per-precinct mileage rules from the bill applied the entire time.

Statutory drafters and legislators

The opinion is a clean illustration of how to read staggered effective dates. If your bill has two amendments to the same section with different effective dates, the dates apply to the specific amendments, not to the rest of the bill, unless the bill says otherwise.

Citizens

Mississippi raised poll-manager pay in two stages. This opinion mostly clarifies the timing rules, not the underlying policy. The big-picture takeaway is that poll managers got more compensation as of January 2024.

Background and statutory framework

Section 23-15-227(1) governs poll manager compensation. The 2023 amendments through SB 2353 staggered two changes to the dollar figures in subsection 1(1):

Effective July 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023: $75 base, up to $125 additional at board discretion.
Effective January 1, 2024: $125 base, up to $75 additional at board discretion.

Subsections 1(2) through (5) addressed travel reimbursement, treasury payment, scope of compensation, and Secretary of State rulemaking authority during a public health risk. Section 4 of the bill set the act's general effective date as July 1, 2023.

The Mississippi Supreme Court's plain-meaning rule for statutory interpretation (Hall v. State, 241 So. 3d 629, 631 (Miss. 2018)) controls. Where the bill's language is clear, courts apply it as written. The AG's reading was that the January 1, 2024 date was bracketed to the specific amendment it labeled.

Citations

Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-227(1) (poll manager compensation)
2023 Mississippi Senate Bill 2353 (amendments to Section 23-15-227)
Hall v. State, 241 So. 3d 629, 631 (Miss. 2018) (plain-meaning rule for statutory interpretation)

Source

Original opinion text

July 7, 2023
The Honorable Michael Watson
Mississippi Secretary of State
401 Mississippi Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
Re:

Effective Dates in 2023 Mississippi Senate Bill No. 2353

Dear Secretary Watson:
The Office of the Attorney General has received your request for an official opinion.

Background
2023 Mississippi Senate Bill No. 2353 ("S.B. 2353") includes two amendments to Mississippi
Code Annotated Section 23-15-227(1). The first amendment has an effective date of July 1, 2023
to December 31, 2023. The second amendment has an effective date of January 1, 2024. The act
itself took effect July 1, 2023.
Question Presented
Does the January 1, 2024 effective date in Section 1(1) of S.B. 2353 apply only to the second
amendment to Section 1(1) or does it also apply to Sections 1(2), (3), (4), and (5)?

Brief Response
The January 1, 2024 effective date in the second amendment set forth in S.B. 2353 Section 1(1)
applies only to that amendment. The rest of the act, including Sections 1(2), (3), (4), and (5), took
effect July 1, 2023.
Applicable Law and Discussion
"For statutory interpretation, the initial inquiry is whether the statute at issue is ambiguous." Hall
v. State, 241 So. 3d 629, 631 (Miss. 2018) (internal citations omitted). "If the words of a statute
are clear and unambiguous, the Court applies the plain meaning of the statute . . . ." Id. (internal
citations omitted). S.B. 2353 provides, in pertinent part:

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-227, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-227. (1) [Effective July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023]. The poll managers
shall be each entitled to Seventy-five Dollars ($75.00) for each election; however,
the board of supervisors may, in its discretion, pay the poll managers an additional
amount not to exceed * * * One Hundred Twenty-Five Dollars ($125.00) per
election.
* * * [Effective from and after January 1, 2024]. The poll managers shall be each
entitled to One Hundred Twenty-five Dollars ($125.00) for each election; however,
the board of supervisors may, in its discretion, pay the poll managers an additional
amount not to exceed Seventy-five ($75.00) per election.
( * * 2) The poll manager who shall carry to the place of voting, away from the
courthouse, the official ballots, ballot boxes, pollbooks and other necessities, shall
be allowed * * * up to Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for each voting precinct for so
doing. The poll manager who acts as returning officer shall be allowed * * * up to
Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) for each voting precinct for that service. If a person
who performs the duties described in this subsection uses a privately owned motor
vehicle to perform them, he or she shall receive for each mile actually and
necessarily traveled in excess of ten (10) miles, the mileage reimbursement rate
allowable to federal employees for the use of a privately owned vehicle while on
official travel.
( * * 3) The compensation authorized in this section shall be allowed by the board
of supervisors, and shall be payable out of the county treasury * * .
( * * 4) The compensation provided in this section shall constitute payment in full
for the services rendered by the persons named for any election, whether there be
one (1) election or issue voted upon, or more than one (1) election or issue voted
upon at the same time.
( * * *5) The Secretary of State shall promulgate rules and regulations as are
necessary to ensure the safety of poll managers, election commissioners, electors
and their families at the voting precincts during a COVID-19 public health risk or
other public health risk declared by the Governor where the appearance of such
persons may result in exposure to such risk or the exposure of other persons to such
risk.
...
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.
The plain text of S.B. 2353 indicates that the January 1, 2024 effective date included in the second
amendment of Section 1(1) applies only to that amendment and does not apply to any other portion
of S.B. 2353. Accordingly, the rest of S.B. 2353, including Sections 1(2), (3), (4), and (5), took
effect July 1, 2023 pursuant to Section 4.

If this office may be of any further assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
LYNN FITCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL
By:

/s/ Abigail C. Overby
Abigail C. Overby
Special Assistant Attorney General