Kick that can on down the road

Until now, property owners in rural Mississippi have been free to build new homes and remodel existing dwellings with little or no regulation.

While most municipalities have building codes and require building permits for new construction, only a few Mississippi counties make any attempt to regulate construction in rural areas.

That changed when Mississippi House Bill 1163 went into effect a few days ago on July 1^st. Under that new law Mississippi counties are required to issue building permits for any rural construction costing more than $10,000.

Although it was not an agenda item, C. J. Bright, president of the Union County Board of Supervisors, made the board aware of HB1163 in the early part of the board’s June 30 meeting.

Like most Mississippi counties, Union County has no building and zoning department.

What Union County will do about implementing HB1163 is on the agenda for today’s meeting of the county board at 10 a.m.

County boards throughout the state are wrestling with what to do about implementing the requirements of the new law. Many complain that the bill is unclear as to what county boards are required to do.

County board members in two different north Mississippi counties used nearly the same words in comments about HB1163 to NEMiss.News. They said, “We’re gonna try to kick that can on down the road.”

The 14,000-word HB1163 was introduced during this year’s session of the state legislature by Representative John Thomas “Trey” Lamar of Senatobia. It passed both houses of the legislature with comfortable margins and was signed into law by Governor Tate Reeves.

Readers who care to put themselves through the mental torture of reading and understanding this new law can find it at the link below:

http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2022/pdf/HB/1100-1199/HB1163SG.pdf

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