MMA H.B. 2050 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS HIGHER EDUCATION H.B. 2050 By: Garcia 4-17-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Current Texas law only allows city council members to be recalled in a special election. While municipal electors are given the opportunity to recall these particular officials in the event of misconduct, ethical violations and other problems, those voters who wish to recall college board trustees are given no such recourse. PURPOSE H.B. 2050 would allow voters in a junior college district the opportunity to recall a member of the board of trustees of that particular district. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 130, Education Code, by adding Subchapter F, to read as follows: SUBCHAPTER F. RECALL OF MEMBER OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sec. 130.091. APPLICATION. Authorizes a member of a board of trustees of a junior college district to be recalled from office. Sec. 130.092. LIMITATIONS ON RECALL. Prohibits a recall petition from being filed within the following time periods: (1) 90 days after the beginning of the member's term; (2) 90 days after the date a recall election failed; and (3) 90 days before the member's term expires. Sec. 130.093. VALIDITY OF PETITION. Stipulates the following requirements for a valid recall petition: (1) be timely filed with the appropriate authority; (2) contains valid signatures as required by Sec. 130.095; (3) comply with the requirements, as to form and content, prescribed by this subchapter; and (4) compliance with Chapter 277, Election Code, except for a provision of that chapter that conflicts with this chapter. Sec. 130.094. FILING DEADLINE. Requires that the recall petition be filed no later than 90 days after the initial circulation date. Sec. 130.095. SIGNATURES REQUIRED. (a) Requires that the minimum number of signatures on the recall petition be 10 percent of the total vote received in the junior college district, or in the district that the affected member represents if the member is elected from a district with certain specific conditions. (b) Defines a valid signature as: (1) the signature of a registered voter of the junior college district and of the district that the member represents if the member is elected from a district with certain specific conditions; and (2) being affixed on or after the date the petition was first circulated and before the date of filing or refiling the petition. Sec. 130.096. FORM AND CONTENT OF PETITION. (a) Requires that the recall petition be directed at only one member. (b) Requires a statement to appear at the top of on each page of the petition stating the purpose for the recall. (c) Requires the initial circulation date to appear on each page of the petition. (d) Requires that the pages of the petition be duplicates, except as to signatures and information required to be affixed by signers and circulators. (e) Authorizes the petition to have multiple parts. (f) Requires the part of the petition in which signatures appear to have the affidavit required by Sec. 130.098. (g) Requires the statement and date required under Subsections (b) and (c) to appear, at the time of signing, on the petition and the page on which the signature is placed. Sec. 130.097. METHOD OF ACQUIRING SIGNATURE. Requires a person circulating a petition to: (1) point out and read to prospective signers the statement required by Sec. 130.096(b); (2) witness each signature; (3) make certain that each date of signing is correct; and (4) verify each signer's registration status and make certain that each registration number entered on the petition is correct. Sec. 130.098. AFFIDAVIT OF CIRCULATOR. (a) Mandates that each part of the petition include an affidavit stating that the person circulating the petition complied with the requirements in Sec. 130.097. (b) Requires the affidavit to include the printed name and home address of the circulator, as well as, the date on which the affidavit was executed. Sec. 130.099. AUTHORITY WITH WHOM PETITION FILED. (a) Requires that the recall petition be filed with the clerk or secretary of the board of trustees of the junior college district. (b) Requires that all parts of the petition be filed on the same date. Sec. 130.100. COVER LETTER. Requires that an accompanying cover letter to a recall petition must contain the following: (1) the name of the member to be recalled; (2) specific information about the petition's proponents; (3) the petition's filing date; and (4) the number of parts of the petition. Sec. 130.101. REVIEW OF PETITION. (a) Requires the authority under which the petition was filed to review the document to determine its validity. (b) Mandates that the review be completed as soon as practicable after the filing date. Sec. 130.102. ACTION ON PETITION. (a) Allows the authority which received the recall petition to call a recall election in the junior college district, or in the district that the affected member represents if the member is elected from a district with certain specific conditions, if the petition is valid and the date of filing does not violate Sec. 130.092. (b) Requires the authority to reject and return the document to proponents of the petition, along with reasons for the rejection, should the petition be declared invalid. (c) Authorizes a rejected petition to be refiled before the deadlines prescribed under Sec. 130.094. Sec. 130.103. NOTICE TO MEMBER. (a) Requires the affected board member to be notified, via registered mail, not later than the fifth day after the date the authority has made its determination of validity. (b) Requires that the recall election date be included in the notification to the member, if the election has been ordered. Sec. 130.104. ELECTION ORDER; DATE. (a) Mandates the recall election to be ordered not later than the fourth day after the date a determination of validity has been made under Section 130.102 (a). (b) Sets the recall election at least 30 days, but not more than 40 days, after the recall election date is ordered. (c) States that if the election date required by Subsection (b) falls at a time when the affected member is no longer holding that office, then the recall election may not be held. Sec. 130.105. FORM OF BALLOT. Sets the ballot form for the recall election. Sec. 130.106. CONDUCT OF ELECTION. Requires that the recall election be conducted in a manner similar to the procedure prescribed by law for a regular election for a member of the board of trustees, except as otherwise provided by this chapter, and to the extent possible. Sec. 130.107. VOTE NECESSARY FOR RECALL. Prescribes the means for achieving a vacancy in a recall election vote, and deems the date of the final canvass of the election as the date of the vacancy in that office. Sec. 130.108. FILLING VACANCY AFTER RECALL. Mandates that a vacancy resulting from a recall election be filled in the usual manner provided by law for a vacancy on the board of trustees. Sec. 130.109. INELIGIBILITY OF RECALLED MEMBER. Prohibits a recalled member from being appointed to fill a vacancy, if a vacancy occurred during the term in which the member was recalled. Sec. 130.110. INELIGIBILITY OF RESIGNED MEMBER. Deems a member ineligible to fill a vacancy, by appointment, if that member resigned on or after the initial circulation date of a petition for that member's recall. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.