A bill  would take away the secretary of state’s power to review sixteenth section land leases, instead leaving school boards and local governments to determine if leases are valid, has passed the state house and is expected to go before a state senate committee Thursday.

    Sixteenth section land is land that has been set aside for school districts, which raise funds through the leasing of the land. After current Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann took office, the secretary of state’s office began reviewing the leases to make sure school districts are getting fair market value for their land.

    Hosemann said revenues for 16th section lands have increased by tens of millions of dollars since his office began reviewing the leases in 2008. Hosemann said that many leases were charging tenants below fair market value for the land before his office began to review the leases.

    Rep. Tracy Arinder (D-Scott County) is the principal author of the bill. Arinder said he’s had no complaints about the secretary of state’s review process from his local school board or board of supervisors, “but I have had constituents and other folks complain about it,” he said.

    Those people include tenants of 16th section land who feel their rent has been raised unfairly.

    “They have raised the rates so high that some people are having to give it up because they can’t pay rental value,” Arinder said. “Some of these people have lived on this land for generation after generation. They understand the lease. They understand that the land will never truly be theirs … But I think the bottom line is the state is wanting to take that land and put it back in forestry.”

    Hosemann says his office is just making sure the land is being leased for fair market value. Meridian Public School District Interim Superintendent Randy McCoy said rent on 16th section land can only be raised so much over a certain period of time.

    “The law actually limits how much it can go up every time … unless they had a long term lease that was below fair market value,” McCoy said. “The lease has to be written at fair market value.”

    Hosemann said many school districts were receiving below fair market value for their 16th section lands before his office began reviewing the leases. Arinder said he believes fair market value for the lands may be overestimated.

     He said his office became more involved in the review of leases after school board members in one school district were held personally accountable for the mismanagement of a 16th section lease, and that school boards like the review process because it both assures that they are getting as much money for the leases as they ought to and protects them from liability.

    Hosemann said that all 16th section land leases are reviewed by a paralegal and an attorney in his office and that he reviews them all himself. He said it takes nine days, on average, for a lease to go through the review process, and that it’s possible to get expedited 24 hour approval.

    “(Sixteenth section land is) a huge asset,” Hosemann said. “650,000 acres is a huge asset to Mississippi children. In a difficult time like we have today, this money is critical to the school districts.”

    According to Hosemann, the Lauderdale County School District received around half a million dollars in 16th section land revenues last year. “That’s a lot of teachers,” he said.

    Hosemann said the version of the bill that passed the house was passed because, “In my mind, the Mississippi Legislature just didn’t have all the facts.”

    Arinder said the bill does not take power away from the secretary of state’s office and is simply a clarification of current law.

    “All we’re wanting the law to be is clarified and do what the law says do. We’re not taking anything away from (the secretary of state) … He has 30 days to, if he has a problem with a lease, (object to it),” Arinder said. “To be honest with you, I have complete trust in my school board and my board of supervisors, and I don’t see why there has to be a third party involved.”

    Hosemann said the bill would force the secretary of state’s office to take any issue they have with a 16th section land lease to court. He said it would create court costs for the state, would create attorney costs for the school boards, and would pit the secretary of state’s office and school boards against each other.

    Along with stating that approval of the secretary of state is not necessary for 16th section land leases and requiring the secretary of state to take any objections over 16th section land leases to the chancery court, the bill would absolve local board members from liability when entering into a 16th section land lease.

    The bill is HB1278. It is expected to be brought to the senate education committee for a vote Thursday. The bill must pass the committee before it can come to a vote on the senate floor.

    Sen. Videt Carmichael (R-Meridian), the chair of the education committee, said he is not in favor of the bill as it is written, but that it’s worth taking a look at the extent of the secretary of state’s power when it comes to 16th section land leases.

    “I think we’ve got safeguards in place, (the review by the secretary of state’s office) being one of them, that we get the most that we can for 16th section land because it is for the school children,” Carmichael said.

    “There’s a feeling out there that maybe the secretary of state has overstepped his authority … and that’s something that we will definitely look at in the committee,” he added. “If there’s a legitimate reason (to eliminate the review process) we’ll find it out, but I’ve heard more negative than I have positive about it.”

     Carmichael said he’s not taking sides with either the secretary of state’s office or those who want to eliminate the review process. He said the law should be designed to protect the school children who benefit from the lease of 16th section land.

    “It’s the school children’s land. It was set aside for them,” Carmichael said. “I want to make sure that it’s fair to all.”

    Lauderdale County School District Superintendent Randy Hodges was out of town and could not be reached for comment, but McCoy said he’s in favor of the current review process.

    “If (the secretary of state) is reviewing those to make sure that the school districts are getting the appropriate amount of money for those leases,” McCoy said, “then I think he needs to continue to review them.”