By Crabb                                         H.B. No. 667

      75R3951 CAG-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the right of voters in a municipality to participate in

 1-3     municipal elections.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,

 1-6     is amended by adding Section 43.905 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 43.905.  EXTENSION OF VOTING RIGHTS TO RESIDENTS OF

 1-8     ANNEXED AREA.  (a)  A municipality that annexes an area under

 1-9     Subchapters B-E of this chapter may not conduct an election unless

1-10     the qualified voters of the area annexed are allowed to vote in the

1-11     election.

1-12           (b)  If a municipality holds an election and the residents of

1-13     an annexed area described in Subsection (a) are not allowed to vote

1-14     in the election, the results of the election are void.

1-15           (c)  This section does not apply to:

1-16                 (1)  an election on the question of the creation of a

1-17     municipal special district or authority in which no part of the

1-18     area annexed is part of the proposed special district or authority

1-19     and the creation of which would not create a direct liability for

1-20     which a resident of the annexed area would be requested to pay in

1-21     any way, including through the payment of any municipal tax;

1-22                 (2)  a local option election conducted under Chapter

1-23     251, Alcoholic Beverage Code, in which no part of the area annexed

1-24     is part of the area affected by the election; or

 2-1                 (3)  an election for a single-member district of the

 2-2     municipality, in which no part of the area annexed is part of the

 2-3     area within the district.

 2-4           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-5           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.