BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4701

By: DeAyala

Elections

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Constituents of House District 133, and people elsewhere in Texas, have raised concerns about misleading ballot proposition language that contradicted state law. Guidance and oversight need to be provided to home-rule municipalities regarding ballot proposition language. C.S.H.B. 4701 seeks to address these concerns by providing for attorney general review of ballot proposition language for certain elections held by home-rule municipalities to ensure that the language is clear, consistent with state law, and not misleading.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the attorney general in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4701 amends the Local Government Code to require a home-rule municipality seeking to hold an election on a charter amendment or a voter-initiated initiative or referendum requested by a petition to submit to the attorney general the ballot proposition language and a brief statement on the purpose of the proposition. Accordingly, the bill provides the following:

· the attorney general, on receiving such a submission, must review the ballot proposition language before the election may be held;

· the attorney general must approve the language if the attorney general finds the proposition is consistent with state law;

· the attorney general, on finding that the proposition is not consistent with state law, must disapprove the language of the proposition;

· language that has been disapproved may not be used on the ballot at the election;

· if the attorney general does not approve or disapprove the language of a proposition before the 40th day after the proposition was submitted, the proposition is approved for use on the ballot;

· if the proposition is disapproved by the attorney general, the municipality that submitted the proposition may submit alternate language in the same manner as the initial submission; and

· a municipality may not submit a proposition or alternate language under the bill's provisions after the 120th day before the date of the election.

The bill provides that, to the extent of a conflict between the bill's provisions and any provision of law requiring a municipality to hold an election on a measure within a certain period, the bill controls.

C.S.H.B. 4701 authorizes the attorney general to adopt rules to implement the review of ballot proposition language. This bill applies only to an election ordered on or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4701 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced amended the Election Code to require any political subdivision seeking to hold an election on a measure to submit to the attorney general the ballot proposition language and a brief statement on the proposition's purpose, the substitute does not include that Election Code provision but instead amends the Local Government Code to require a home-rule municipality seeking to hold an election on a charter amendment or a voter-initiated initiative or referendum requested by a petition to submit to the attorney general that language and statement. The substitute, accordingly, updates the bill procedures set out for review of the language to reflect the substitute's applicability to a home-rule municipality.

The substitute does not include a provision that appeared in the introduced making its provisions inapplicable to an election for which a statute provides the ballot proposition language.