THE MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

The Office of the Secretary of State is a service, information, and regulatory agency. The office addresses various risks to the public through its provision of four primary service functions: administrative/recordkeeping/disclosure, consumer protection, public lands management, and training of election officials.

The Secretary of State serves as the state’s primary record-keeper and information provider in elections, charities, securities, public lands, and business services. Through its Elections Division, the office enforces laws requiring political action committees, candidates and election committees, lobbyists and their clients disclose the sources of their funds and to whom they make disbursements of those funds. The office also provides training to elections officials throughout the state and preserves availability of the records to the public.

The Business Services Regulation and Enforcement Unit collects information and seeks to warn and thus protect the public from harm due to improper charitable solicitations, illegal securities schemes or unscrupulous broker-dealers. Additionally, the Secretary of State’s Office has broad regulatory authority in the areas of securities dealings, investment broker-dealers, and charity management. The Business Services Filing and Customer Service Unit maintains records on state business entities and other commercial dealings and ensures public access to the information. The Secretary of State’s Public Lands Division assists local school districts in maintaining school trust land management systems. The division also ensures that tax-forfeited land is sold and placed back on the county tax rolls, an accurate inventory of state agency-held land is maintained, and that the state’s coastal tidelands are leased to preserve their natural state, except where a higher public purpose is served. The Publications Division oversees publications of official documents of the state and the agency.

The Secretary of State’s Office is successfully addressing risks to the public through efficient filing, streamlining of functions, proactively providing consumer education regarding charitable organizations and securities, auditing and investigating charitable organizations and securities, verifying that sixteenth section leases are in compliance with state law, increasing sales of tax-forfeited lands, and providing elections training to local officials. However, the office does not utilize formal, written policies and procedures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness within the divisions, nor does it effectively use performance measures to monitor its success in achieving goals and objectives. The office acknowledges the deficiencies in its performance measures and is currently working to create and utilize more accurate and effective measures.

From FY 1990 to FY 2000, the Secretary of State’s available revenues (not including the funds generated from tidelands leases and remitted to the Department of Marine Resources) increased by 162.5%, from approximately $4.8 million to approximately $12.7 million, primarily as a result of an increase in business activity. The Office of the Secretary of State’s expenditures increased 63.2% from FY 1990 to FY 2000, primarily as a result of a staffing increase. While the Secretary of State’s workload increase indicated a need for additional personnel during this period, the office did not maintain historical workload data by division. Thus, PEER could not verify whether the total number of positions added was appropriate and whether the positions were added to the divisions with the greatest amount of need.

The Secretary of State’s Office generally provides readily accessible information, both on-site and on-line, to the public. However, the office currently does not have a formal procedure in place for handling and tracking complaints.