Series 676: House Committee Files. 1971-1989.
Legislature (RG 47)

Series 676: House Committee Files. 1971-1989.
Legislature (RG 47)

      Records of various committees of the House of Representatives. Included in the files are research materials, reports, agendas, minutes, press releases, legislation, notes, and various other documents. The following committees are represented in this series:

• Tax Study Committee, 1984. This committee was appointed on July 3, 1984 by the Speaker of the House to study Mississippi’s tax structure. The committee delivered its final report to the House in December of that year.
• House Interim Study Committee on Education, 1982. Appointed by the House Speaker on August 4, 1982, this committee was charged with studying the state’s public school system and making recommendations for its improvement. It delivered its report to the House in November of 1982.
• Interim Study Committee on Property Taxation, 1985. More commonly known simply as the “Property Tax Study Committee,” this body was established by House Resolution No. 30 in the Regular Session of 1985, primarily in response to a 1980 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling that the state must equalize the ad valorem property assessments among the various counties (i.e., appraise them at true value). The committee studied (1) the assessed value of property classes and subclasses; (2) the distribution of ad valorem taxes on the Grand Gulf Nuclear Generating Facility in Claiborne County; (3) the distribution of Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Bridge Bond funds and TVA payments in lieu of taxes, and (4) the appraisal of personal property for ad valorem taxation. Though the committee was created in 1985 and made its final report in December of that year, many of these records both precede and antecede the existence of the committee and actually document legislative efforts towards the reappraisal and equalization of property taxes from 1976-1989.