By Armbrister S.B. No. 277
74R3726 JSA-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the eligibility of a person who has served as a member
1-3 of the United States Senate or House of Representatives to be a
1-4 candidate for the same office.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Title 9, Election Code, is amended by adding
1-7 Chapter 147 to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER 147. CANDIDATE FOR UNITED STATES CONGRESS
1-9 Sec. 147.001. CERTAIN PERSONS INELIGIBLE AS CANDIDATE TO
1-10 UNITED STATES SENATE. A person is not eligible to be a candidate
1-11 in any election for the office of United States senator if the
1-12 person is serving as a member of the United States Senate and, at
1-13 the end of the term the person is serving, the person will have
1-14 served, if the person completes the term, all of two consecutive
1-15 six-year terms as a United States senator.
1-16 Sec. 147.002. CERTAIN PERSONS INELIGIBLE AS CANDIDATE TO
1-17 UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. A person is not eligible
1-18 to be a candidate in any election for the office of United States
1-19 representative if the person is serving as a member of the United
1-20 States House of Representatives and, at the end of the term the
1-21 person is serving, the person will have served, if the person
1-22 completes the term, all of three consecutive two-year terms as a
1-23 United States representative.
1-24 Sec. 147.003. WRITE-IN CANDIDACY PERMITTED. Sections
2-1 147.001 and 147.002 do not make a person ineligible to be a
2-2 write-in candidate under Chapter 146 in any election for the office
2-3 of United States senator or United States representative.
2-4 Sec. 147.004. EFFECTIVE DATES. (a) Section 147.001 takes
2-5 effect on the date the secretary of state makes a certification to
2-6 the governor under Subsection (d), unless that date occurs during
2-7 the period that begins on the earliest date that a person may file
2-8 an application for a place on a general primary election ballot and
2-9 the date of the subsequent general election, in which event Section
2-10 147.001 takes effect on the next January 1 following that general
2-11 election.
2-12 (b) Section 147.002 takes effect on the date the secretary
2-13 of state makes a certification to the governor under Subsection
2-14 (e), unless that date occurs during the period that begins on the
2-15 earliest date that a person may file an application for a place on
2-16 a general primary election ballot and the date of the subsequent
2-17 general election, in which event Section 147.002 takes effect on
2-18 the next January 1 following that general election.
2-19 (c) The secretary of state shall take reasonable steps to
2-20 determine whether each state of the United States that elects
2-21 United States senators has by law provided that a person is not
2-22 eligible to be a candidate, disregarding write-in candidates, for,
2-23 or to be elected to or to serve in, the office of United States
2-24 senator or United States representative from that state because of
2-25 the person's prior service in that office, and shall maintain a
2-26 record of which states have done so.
2-27 (d) The secretary of state shall certify to the governor in
3-1 writing on the earliest date that the secretary of state determines
3-2 that 25 states or more have adopted a law described by Subsection
3-3 (c) applicable to the office of United States senator.
3-4 (e) The secretary of state shall certify to the governor in
3-5 writing on the earliest date that the secretary of state determines
3-6 that 25 states or more have adopted a law described by Subsection
3-7 (c) applicable to the office of United States representative.
3-8 (f) When the secretary of state makes a certification to the
3-9 governor under this section, the secretary of state shall file a
3-10 notice of the certification for publication in the Texas Register.
3-11 (g) For purposes of this section, a state is considered to
3-12 have adopted a law described by Subsection (c) even if the law is
3-13 contingent on the adoption of a similar law by one or more other
3-14 states.
3-15 Sec. 147.005. CERTAIN SERVICE EXCLUDED. Service as a United
3-16 States senator or United States representative for a term that
3-17 begins before January 1, 1997, does not count for purposes of
3-18 determining the eligibility of a person to be a candidate for
3-19 either office under this chapter.
3-20 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
3-21 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.