Starting Monday, pink is the new orange for hunters in the Golden Triangle.
Or at least, one will be just as good as the other.
Under House Bill 526, which will become law next week, hunters have the choice to swap their typical orange vests for at least 500 square inches of “unbroken fluorescent pink.”
Diane Lewis, manager at Outlaw Sporting Goods in Columbus, sees the new vests bringing more women who like to hunt into the store, a demographic she said she doesn’t see often.
“We might just have to test it out, but not necessarily go all out and buy like we normally do for regular vests during the season,” Lewis told The Dispatch Friday.
HB 526 is one of nearly 400 new state laws passed during the legislative session that will go into effect Monday. Several of the laws will have a direct impact in the Golden Triangle, including changes to law enforcement processes and industrial development provisions.
New megasite provisions
Sponsored by local legislators District 37 Rep. Andy Boyd and District 39 Rep. Dana McLean, both Columbus Republicans, House Bill 1617 amends some of the guardrails around developing an industrial megasite.
A megasite is a swath of land, at least 800 acres, dedicated to industrial developments for several companies to build and operate on. Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston said the new bill will make it easier to purchase and develop a megasite without as much red tape.
“It grants us the authority to borrow or otherwise procure funding to acquire the land and develop utilities,” Hairston told The Dispatch Friday.
“And then another big thing it does is it does not set against our debt ceiling caps.”
The Golden Triangle currently has four megasites that are home to Steel Dynamics, Aluminum Dynamics and PACCAR in Lowndes County and Yokohama Tire in Clay County. Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said plans to develop a new megasite, known as the Cinco site, helped spur the legislation.
“With most of those megasites, we didn’t incur the debt until after we had a tenant,” Higgins said. “We anticipate that we’re going to buy the Cinco megasite next March, and we may or may not have a tenant. And we didn’t want that money spent to buy that megasite to go against Lowndes County’s credit limit.”
State law caps the debt incurred by county governments to 15% of the county’s assessed value. Lowndes County’s total assessed value is more than $1 billion, making its debt limit roughly $150 million.
Under the new law, debt that the county issues to build a megasite won’t be counted against its debt limit. Hairston said the new provision lifts a guardrail that doesn’t transfer well when dealing with industrial development.
“Those guardrails are in place for a reason because the state law doesn’t want communities to overbuild jails, schools, courthouses – those types of things,” he said. “In the case of industrial development though, it’s a little bit different. You’re investing in things that reinvest back into the community.”
Higgins called the provision a subtle change to existing laws that will have a positive impact not only in the Golden Triangle, but across the state.
“This may be the difference in a board of supervisors somewhere saying we’ve got to pick between a community park or a megasite,” he said. “… This is a way that you really don’t have to pick if you don’t want to.”
Electronic arrest warrants
Under House Bill 295, law enforcement officers can use electronic applications and signatures for felony warrants.
Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office Capt. of Investigations Brett Watson said the change has the potential to speed up judicial processes.
Previously an exchange of paperwork was required to issue warrants, he said.
“If I’m here and the judge is down there, I’m going to physically fax or email a warrant to him,” Watson told The Dispatch Friday. “He’s physically going to stamp it, sign it, scan it and send it back and follow with the original.”
Once the law goes into effect, law enforcement officers can make the request electronically instead of in-person. Watson said he sees the law having many practical applications.
“If you’re doing interdiction on the highways, if you’re able (request a warrant) from the roadside, then that means you’re not going to have to bring more officers out to stay there at the scene while somebody leaves to go sit down, type the warrant and go find a judge,” he said.
While OCSO has the ability to shift to the electronic process, Watson expects in-person requests and authorizations to continue.
“We have the capacity to do it with the new system that the county has purchased for us, so this is going to enable us to turn on that feature,” he said. “I think it will still be the norm that you’re going to sit down face to face with a judge, especially if it’s a more complicated thing.”
Other state laws effective Monday
The Seizure Safe Schools Act, House Bill 346, establishes a “seizure action plan” that prepares school faculty and administrators to meet the needs of students or employees with a diagnosed seizure disorder. The new law requires school boards to have at least one employee at each school who meets the training requirements necessary to administer a seizure rescue medication.
Senate Bill 2577 creates criminal penalties for the wrongful dissemination of digitizations, or realistically altered images or audio of a person, including content generated by artificial intelligence.
Shoplifting will be a felony if the amount stolen is more than $1,000 when House Bill 438 goes into effect. The law also stipulates that anyone aiding, abetting or encouraging the crime when it happens can also be prosecuted.
Squatted vehicles will be banned under House Bill 349. Vehicles with front fenders raised four or more inches higher than the rear fenders will no longer be lawful to drive.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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