By Clark                                              H.B. No. 1627

         75R6754 GGS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to a notice requirement for political advertising signs.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 255.007, Election Code, is amended to

 1-5     read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 255.007.  NOTICE REQUIREMENT ON POLITICAL ADVERTISING

 1-7     SIGNS.  (a)  The following notice must be written on each political

 1-8     advertising sign:

 1-9           "NOTICE:  IT IS A VIOLATION OF STATE LAW (CHAPTERS 392 AND

1-10     393, TRANSPORTATION CODE) [(ARTICLE 2372cc, VERNON'S TEXAS CIVIL

1-11     STATUTES, AND ARTICLE 6674v-7, REVISED STATUTES)], TO PLACE THIS

1-12     SIGN IN THE RIGHT-OF-WAY OF A HIGHWAY."

1-13           (b)  A person commits an offense if the person:

1-14                 (1)  knowingly enters into a contract to print or make

1-15     a political advertising sign that does not contain the notice

1-16     required by Subsection (a); or

1-17                 (2)  instructs another person to place a political

1-18     advertising sign that does not contain the notice required by

1-19     Subsection (a).

1-20           (c)  An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.

1-21           (d)  It is an exception to the application of Subsection (b)

1-22     that the political advertising sign was printed or made before

1-23     September 1, 1997, and complied with Subsection (a) as it existed

1-24     immediately before that date.

 2-1           (e)  In this section, "political advertising sign" means a

 2-2     written form of political advertising designed to be seen from a

 2-3     road but does not include a bumper sticker.

 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.