By Madden                                             H.B. No. 2552
       74R6661 DRH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the time of affiliation with a political party.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 162.001(b), Election Code, is amended to
    1-5  read as follows:
    1-6        (b)  The affiliation requirement prescribed by Subsections
    1-7  (a)(2) and (3) applies only during a voting year in which the
    1-8  general election for state and county officers is held and does not
    1-9  apply until:
   1-10              (1)  after 7 p.m. on general primary election day, for
   1-11  a party holding a primary election; or
   1-12              (2)  the date of the precinct conventions held under
   1-13  this title, for a party nominating by convention.
   1-14        SECTION 2.  Section 162.008(a), Election Code, is amended to
   1-15  read as follows:
   1-16        (a)  This section applies only to a person desiring to
   1-17  affiliate with a political party during  that part of a voting year
   1-18  in which the general election for state and county officers is held
   1-19  that follows:
   1-20              (1)  the date of the precinct conventions held under
   1-21  this title, for a party nominating by convention; or
   1-22              (2)  7 p.m. on general primary election day, for a
   1-23  party holding a primary election.
   1-24        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-1        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.