By Madden                                        H.B. No. 673

      75R2034 DRH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  The secretary of state shall conduct a study and,

 1-5     in conjunction with the attorney general, make changes in election

 1-6     procedures and take other actions or recommend legislative action

 1-7     as necessary to enable the State of Texas and its political

 1-8     subdivisions to qualify to be excluded from the preclearance

 1-9     procedures prescribed by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

1-10     (42 U.S.C. 1973c).

1-11           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-16     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-17     passage, and it is so enacted.