By:  Lindsay                                  S.B. No. 236

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

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

 1-2     municipal elections.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,

 1-5     is amended by adding Section 43.905 to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 43.905.  EXTENSION OF VOTING RIGHTS TO RESIDENTS OF

 1-7     ANNEXED AREA.  (a)  A municipality that annexes an area may not

 1-8     order an election to be held within 120 days after the city

 1-9     council's final vote approving an annexation unless the

1-10     municipality receives notice that the annexation has received

1-11     preclearance pursuant to the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. Section

1-12     1973 et seq.) from the United States Department of Justice.

1-13           (b)  This section does not apply if the annexed area:

1-14                 (1)  was annexed on the written petition of the owners

1-15     or a majority of the qualified voters of the area;

1-16                 (2)  is vacant;

1-17                 (3)  is without residents;

1-18                 (4)  is owned by the municipality;

1-19                 (5)  is a municipally owned airport;

1-20                 (6)  is a municipally owned reservoir; or

1-21                 (7)  was annexed at the request of a governing board of

1-22     a municipal utility district located in the annexed area.

1-23           (c)  This section does not apply to:

 2-1                 (1)  an election on the question of the creation of a

 2-2     municipal special district or authority in which no part of the

 2-3     area annexed is part of the proposed special district or authority

 2-4     and the creation of which would not create a direct liability for

 2-5     which a resident of the annexed area would be requested to pay in

 2-6     any way, including through the payment of any municipal tax;

 2-7                 (2)  a local option election conducted under Chapter

 2-8     251, Alcoholic Beverage Code, in which no part of the area annexed

 2-9     is part of the area affected by the election; or

2-10                 (3)  an election for a single-member district of the

2-11     municipality, in which no part of the area annexed is part of the

2-12     area within the district.

2-13           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.