As Amended
SEC. 49-5-21. Fisheries and wildlife fund created; annual budget requests to legislature.
(1) The department of wildlife conservation of the state of Mississippi is hereby directed and required to transfer all funds under its control into a special fund in the state treasury to be segregated and known as the "fisheries and wildlife fund," which fund can only be expended as authorized by the legislature for the purposes for which the department of wildlife conservation was created. All funds derived from the sale of licenses, fees, fines and other revenues being received by the department of wildlife conservation as is now provided by law, shall be deposited in the fisheries and wildlife fund, with the state treasurer. The interest obtained thereon from any investment or deposit made pursuant to section 27-105-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, shall be credited by the state treasurer to the said fisheries and wildlife fund and shall not be paid into the general fund of Mississippi.
(2) The department of wildlife conservation is hereby authorized to expend such sums as are authorized by the legislature from the fisheries and wildlife fund in the state treasury for paying salaries of its employees, operating and maintaining equipment and for any other purpose for which they are now authorized to expend funds by law, which amount shall be available for expenditure.
The money herein authorized shall be paid by the state treasurer out of the fisheries and wildlife fund on warrants issued by the state auditor; and the state auditor shall issue his warrant upon requisition signed by the state director of conservation.
(3) The department of wildlife conservation is hereby directed and required to prepare and submit annually to the legislature a budget for its proposed operation. The budget herein required shall reflect all anticipated revenues from all sources, including all grants and matching funds, together with all proposed expenditures. The budget shall be prepared in the same manner as is now required of other departments of this state. The department of wildlife conservation shall be subject to budgetary control and audit in the same manner as is provided by law for other departments and agencies.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring legislative appropriation of such fisheries and wildlife fund, but it is intended that expenditure of such funds shall be under authority of the budget approved as herein provided and as authorized by the legislature.
SOURCES: Codes, 1942, Sec. 5862.5; Laws, 1952, ch. 192, Secs. 1-3; 1970, ch. 282, Sec. 1; 1976, ch. 475; 1982, ch. 365, Sec. 1; 1984, ch. 488, Sec. 234, eff from and after July 1, 1984.