Title 77, Public Utilities and Carriers

Each joint agency shall, following the closing of each fiscal year, submit an annual report of its activities for the preceding year to the governing authorities and to the utility commissions of its member municipalities. Each such report shall set forth a complete operating and…

Legislative consent is hereby given (a) to the application of the laws of other states with respect to taxation, payments in lieu of taxes, and the assessment thereof, to any municipality or joint agency created pursuant to this article which has acquired or has an interest in a …

The governing authorities of any municipality or joint agency are hereby authorized to make application and to enter into contracts for and to accept grants-in-aid and loans from the federal and state governments and their agencies for planning, acquiring, constructing, expanding…

Municipalities participating in a joint project and joint agencies shall possess the power of eminent domain for a project authorized by this article to the extent and in the same manner and under the same laws now available to municipalities under the laws of this state; provide…

No commissioner of any joint agency or officer of any municipality or person or persons acting in their behalf, while acting within the scope of their authority, shall be subject to any personal liability or accountability by reason of his carrying out any of the powers expressly…

Whenever the governing authorities of the utility commission and of any municipality are one and the same, separate actions required by this article by the governing authorities of the municipality with respect to an action or determination required by this article by the governi…

The foregoing sections of this article shall be deemed to provide an additional, alternative and complete method for the doing of the things authorized thereby and shall be deemed and construed to be supplemental and additional to powers conferred by other laws, and shall not be …

Nothing contained in this article shall affect in any manner the authority or rights of any public utility, any electric power association, or any municipality to engage in the retail distribution of electric power within the service areas as certificated to them by the public se…

In order to effectuate the purposes and policies prescribed in this article, the provisions hereof shall be liberally construed.

(a) For the purposes of this article, the following words shall have the meaning ascribed herein unless the context shall otherwise require:(a) “Municipal utility” means any municipality of the State of Mississippi and any board, commission or other governing or supervisory body …

(a) A municipal utility as defined in this article may adopt a safety incentive program and may pay safety incentives from the revenues of the municipal utility, but not from tax revenues, subject to the following conditions and limitations:(a) The safety incentive shall be in th…

This article shall be known and may be cited as the “Mississippi Electric Cooperatives Broadband COVID-19 Act.”

(1) The Legislature finds and declares that the State of Emergency and ongoing public health crisis related to COVID-19 has caused significant challenges in the immediate delivery of educational, health care and other services. The Legislature further finds and declares that due …

(1) From the date of the beginning of the period for applications for grants under this section, the Staff shall consider and review applications from any eligible applicant. Any project applied for by an electric cooperative must be for the purpose of the electric cooperative im…

There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund to be designated as the “Public Utilities Application Fund,” which shall consist of funds made available by the Legislature in any manner and funds from any other source designated for deposit into such fund. Unexpended…

(1) An applicant desiring to participate in one (1) of the grant programs shall make written application to the Staff for a grant. (2) Any primary application must be submitted on or before the close of business on July 17, 2020. A primary application must include the following: …

(1) Each applicant receiving any grant funds under this article shall monthly file project status reports with the Public Utilities Staff. The initial project status report shall be due on or before September 15, 2020, and updates shall be provided on or before the fifteenth day …

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Municipal Gas Authority of Mississippi Law.”

The authority shall consist of a board of commissioners appointed by the respective utility commissions of the municipalities which are members of the authority. Each municipality shall appoint one (1) commissioner who may, at the discretion of the municipality, be an officer or …

The board of commissioners of the authority may create an executive committee of the board of commissioners. The board may provide for the composition of the executive committee so as to afford, in its judgment, fair representation of the member municipalities. The executive comm…

(a) The authority shall have all of the rights and powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the rights and powers:(a) To adopt bylaws for the regulation…

(a) The authority shall not undertake any project required to be financed, in whole or in part, with the proceeds of bonds without the approval of sixty percent (60%) of its members. Before undertaking such project, required to be financed in whole or in part with the proceeds of…

The municipalities with which the authority shall be authorized to contract to provide a gas supply pursuant to this chapter shall be those municipalities of this state or any other state who may distribute or be end-users thereof.

Any municipality which is a member of the authority may contract to buy from the authority gas required for its present or future requirements, including the capacity and output of one or more specified projects. As the creation of the authority is an alternative method, among ot…

The authority may sell or exchange the excess capacity or output of a project not then required by any of its members or with any party with whom the authority may contract for such consideration and for such period and upon such other terms and conditions as may be determined by…

The definitions and all other terms and provisions of this chapter shall be construed so as to include and authorize the joint or several ownership, operation, and/or maintenance by one or more municipalities or the authority of a project, or any undivided ownership interest ther…

A municipality’s or the authority’s purchase of, contract for the acquisition of, or contract for any property, including any project or interest therein, or the construction of, or the operation and maintenance of, any project, owned or to be owned jointly by such municipality o…

The authority may issue revenue bonds pledging to the payment thereof as to both principal and interest the revenues or any portion thereof, derived or to be derived from all or any of its projects, and any additions and betterments thereto or extensions thereof, or contributions…

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that certain municipalities of this state now own and operate gas distribution systems to serve their citizens, inhabitants and customers by providing them with gas for all purposes; and if such municipalities are to furnish, and if the m…

(1) Each municipality and the authority are hereby authorized to issue at one (1) time or from time to time revenue bonds for the purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of any of the purposes authorized by this chapter. The principal of, premium, if any, and the interest o…

In the discretion of the governing board of the issuer, any bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter may be secured by a resolution, a trust indenture or other security instrument, and in this regard the issuer may enter into an agreement with any trust company or bank h…

A municipality is hereby authorized to fix, charge and collect rents, rates, fees and charges for gas and other services, facilities and commodities sold, furnished or supplied through the facilities of its gas system or its interest in any joint project. For so long as any bonds…

The authority is hereby authorized to fix, charge and collect rents, rates, fees and charges for gas and other services, facilities and commodities sold, furnished or supplied through the facilities of its projects. For so long as any bonds of the authority are outstanding and un…

Any pledge made by a municipality or the authority pursuant to this chapter shall be valid and binding from the date the pledge is made. The revenues, securities and other moneys so pledged and then held or thereafter received by the municipality or the authority or any fiduciary…

All moneys received pursuant to the authority of this chapter, whether as proceeds from the sale of bonds or as revenues may be temporarily invested and reinvested pending the disbursements thereof in such securities and other investments as may be permitted by law for investment…

Any holder of bonds issued under the provisions of this chapter or any of the coupons appertaining thereto, except to the extent the rights herein given may be restricted by the resolution authorizing the issuance of such bonds, may, either at law or in equity, by suit, action, m…

Bonds issued by a municipality or the authority under the provisions of Sections 77-6-29 through 77-6-57 are hereby made securities in which all public officers and agencies of the state and all political subdivisions, all insurance companies, banking associations, investment com…

The bonds shall be special obligations of the municipality or the authority issuing them. The principal of, premium, if any, and interest on the bonds shall not be payable from the general funds of the municipality or the authority, nor shall they constitute a legal or equitable …

(1) The authority shall have the power and is authorized, whenever revenue bonds of the authority have been validated as provided in Title 31, Mississippi Code of 1972, to issue from time to time its negotiable notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds as validated and …

(a) For purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context otherwise requires:(a) “Authority” means the Municipal Gas Authority of Mississippi and any successor thereto. Any change in name or composition of the author…

Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, every evidence of indebtedness issued under this chapter shall have all the rights and incidences of negotiable instruments, subject to provisions for registration.

A municipality or the authority is hereby authorized to provide by resolution for the issuance of refunding bonds of the municipality or the authority for the purpose of refunding any bonds then outstanding which shall have been issued under the provisions of this chapter, includ…

Bonds, their transfer and the income therefrom, including any profit made on the sale thereof, shall at all times be free from taxation by the state or any political subdivision or any agency of either thereof, excepting inheritance, estate or gift taxes.

Whenever the board of commissioners of the authority and the utility commissions of its member municipalities shall by resolution or ordinance determine that the purposes for which the authority was formed have been substantially fulfilled and that all bonds theretofore issued an…

The authority shall, following the closing of each fiscal year, submit an annual report of its activities for the preceding year to the governing authorities and to the utility commissions of its member municipalities. Each such report shall set forth a complete operating and fin…

Legislative consent is hereby given (a) to the application of the laws of other states with respect to taxation, payments in lieu of taxes, and the assessment thereof, to any municipality or the authority which has acquired or has an interest in a project, real or personal, situa…