By Wilson H.B. No. 382
75R1949 PEP-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to requiring candidates for and appointees to elective
1-3 public office to submit to drug testing.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 601, Government Code, is amended by
1-6 adding Section 601.009 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 601.009. DRUG TESTING. (a) A candidate for elective
1-8 public office must submit to testing for the use of certain
1-9 controlled substances, as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety
1-10 Code, to be eligible for placement on the ballot for the office
1-11 sought by the candidate. A candidate who fails to pass the testing
1-12 is not eligible to remain a candidate for or be elected to the
1-13 office sought.
1-14 (b) A person appointed to fill a vacancy in an elective
1-15 public office must submit to and pass testing comparable to testing
1-16 required under Subsection (a) to be qualified to serve in the
1-17 appointed office.
1-18 (c) The secretary of state shall adopt rules necessary to
1-19 implement this section, including rules that prescribe:
1-20 (1) the time period during which a candidate or other
1-21 person must submit to testing;
1-22 (2) the date by which a candidate or other person must
1-23 document that testing has been accomplished and the nature of
1-24 documentation required;
2-1 (3) the facilities qualified to administer testing;
2-2 (4) the controlled substances for which the testing
2-3 must screen, based on a cost-benefit analysis that considers the
2-4 availability of a substance, the extent of its illegal use in this
2-5 state, and its impact on a person's performance;
2-6 (5) the criteria by which the secretary of state shall
2-7 determine that a candidate or other person has failed the testing
2-8 and is disqualified from assuming office; and
2-9 (6) the procedures through which a candidate or other
2-10 person may challenge a determination that the candidate has failed
2-11 the testing.
2-12 (d) In adopting rules under this section, the secretary of
2-13 state shall ensure that the safety, confidentiality, privacy, and
2-14 other legal rights of affected persons are adequately protected.
2-15 (e) Subsection (a) does not apply to an office for which the
2-16 United States Constitution, the constitution of this state, or
2-17 another statute prescribes exclusive eligibility requirements.
2-18 SECTION 2. Section 141.001(a), Election Code, is amended to
2-19 read as follows:
2-20 (a) To be eligible to be a candidate for, or elected or
2-21 appointed to, a public elective office in this state, a person
2-22 must:
2-23 (1) be a United States citizen;
2-24 (2) be 18 years of age or older on the first day of
2-25 the term to be filled at the election or on the date of
2-26 appointment, as applicable;
2-27 (3) have not been determined mentally incompetent by a
3-1 final judgment of a court;
3-2 (4) have not been finally convicted of a felony from
3-3 which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released from
3-4 the resulting disabilities;
3-5 (5) have resided continuously in the state for 12
3-6 months and in the territory from which the office is elected for
3-7 six months immediately preceding the following date:
3-8 (A) for a candidate whose name is to appear on a
3-9 general primary election ballot, the date of the regular filing
3-10 deadline for a candidate's application for a place on the ballot;
3-11 (B) for an independent candidate, the date of
3-12 the regular filing deadline for a candidate's application for a
3-13 place on the ballot;
3-14 (C) for a write-in candidate, the date of the
3-15 election at which the candidate's name is written in;
3-16 (D) for a party nominee who is nominated by any
3-17 method other than by primary election, the date the nomination is
3-18 made; and
3-19 (E) for an appointee to an office, the date the
3-20 appointment is made;
3-21 (6) comply with the drug testing requirements of
3-22 Section 601.009, Government Code; and
3-23 (7) [(6)] satisfy any other eligibility requirements
3-24 prescribed by law for the office.
3-25 SECTION 3. The secretary of state shall adopt the rules
3-26 required by Section 601.009, Government Code, as added by this Act,
3-27 not later than December 31, 1997.
4-1 SECTION 4. Section 601.009, Government Code, as added by
4-2 this Act, applies only to a candidate who applies for a place on a
4-3 ballot or a person who is appointed to fill a vacancy in elective
4-4 public office on or after January 1, 1998.
4-5 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-11 passage, and it is so enacted.