By: Carona H.B. No. 2
73R628 CAE-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to limitations on the number of terms a member of the
1-3 board of trustees of an independent school district may serve.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 23, Education Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 23.20 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 23.20. LIMITATION ON TERMS OF OFFICE. (a) The voters
1-8 of an independent school district may limit by petition and
1-9 referendum the number of terms a person may serve as a member of
1-10 the district's board of trustees.
1-11 (b) A registered voter on application may obtain from the
1-12 presiding officer of the district's board of trustees officially
1-13 numbered and properly authenticated petitions to limit service on
1-14 the board to a specific number of terms. Each sheet of the
1-15 petition must be headed with a statement in capital letters
1-16 regarding the nature of the petition as follows:
1-17 "THIS PETITION IS TO REQUIRE AN ELECTION TO BE HELD IN THE
1-18 (name of school district) TO LIMIT SERVICE ON THE BOARD OF
1-19 TRUSTEES OF THE DISTRICT TO (number of terms) TERMS OF
1-20 OFFICE."
1-21 (c) An affidavit of the person who circulated each sheet
1-22 must be affixed or printed on each sheet in the following form and
1-23 substance, and the affidavit must be executed before a notary
1-24 public:
2-1 "STATE OF TEXAS
2-2 COUNTY OF __________
2-3 I, _________, affirm that I personally witnessed each signer
2-4 affix his or her signature, the date of signing, his or her
2-5 voter registration number, and his or her residence address
2-6 and zip code to this page of this petition for the limitation
2-7 on terms of office of members of the board of trustees of the
2-8 school district. I affirm to the best of my knowledge and
2-9 belief that each signature is the genuine signature of the
2-10 person whose name is signed and that the date entered next to
2-11 each signature is the date the signature was affixed to this
2-12 page.
2-13 ________________________
2-14 Sworn to and subscribed before me this the ________day of
2-15 ____, 19___.
2-16 (SEAL)
2-17 _____________________________
2-18 Notary Public, State of Texas"
2-19 (d) Each sheet of the petition must be submitted at the same
2-20 time. Each person signing a petition must sign the petition in
2-21 person in ink or indelible pencil and must personally enter beside
2-22 his or her signature his or her current residence address and zip
2-23 code, his or her correct voter registration number, and the date of
2-24 signing. A signature not accompanied correctly by all the
2-25 information required by this subsection is void and may not be
2-26 counted in determining the validity of the petition.
2-27 (e) To be valid a petition must contain the signatures of
3-1 not less than five percent of the number of registered voters in
3-2 the district who voted in the last election for members of the
3-3 district's board of trustees. The completed petition must be filed
3-4 with the presiding officer of the board on or before the 60th day
3-5 after the date the person received the first sheets of the
3-6 petition.
3-7 (f) On receipt of a petition, the presiding officer of the
3-8 district's board of trustees shall examine the petition and report
3-9 to the board whether, in his or her opinion, the petition conforms
3-10 to the requirements of this section. On receipt of the report, the
3-11 board shall conduct an examination of the petition. If the board
3-12 determines that the petition conforms to the requirements of this
3-13 section, the board shall call an election in the district and
3-14 submit to the voters the following proposition:
3-15 "Shall a person's service on the board of trustees of the
3-16 (name of school district) be limited to (number of terms)
3-17 terms of office?"
3-18 (g) The election shall be held on the first uniform election
3-19 date under the Election Code. If a majority of the voters voting
3-20 at the election votes in favor of the proposition, the number of
3-21 full terms that a person may serve on the board of trustees of the
3-22 district in the future is limited in accordance with the
3-23 proposition without regard to prior terms of office. If the
3-24 election on the proposition occurs at the election at which members
3-25 of the board are elected, the term of office for which a person is
3-26 elected at that election is not counted in determining the term
3-27 limitation.
4-1 (h) If a limitation on the number of terms of office a
4-2 member of the board of trustees of the district may serve is
4-3 adopted, the voters of the district may change the number of terms
4-4 permitted or may remove the limitation by petition and referendum
4-5 in the same manner prescribed for imposing the limitation, with
4-6 appropriate changes in the language of the petition and
4-7 proposition.
4-8 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-14 passage, and it is so enacted.