1-1           By:  Lindsay                                     S.B. No. 236

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 17, 1997; January 21, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental

 1-4     Relations; February 24, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable

 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0;

 1-6     February 24, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 236                  By:  Lindsay

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the right of voters in a municipality to participate in

1-11     municipal elections.

1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-13           SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,

1-14     is amended by adding Section 43.905 to read as follows:

1-15           Sec. 43.905.  EXTENSION OF VOTING RIGHTS TO RESIDENTS OF

1-16     ANNEXED AREA.  (a)  A municipality that annexes an area may not

1-17     conduct an election for 120 days after the city council's final

1-18     vote approving an annexation, nor may a city impose taxes on the

1-19     citizens of the newly annexed area during this 120 days, unless the

1-20     municipality receives notice that the annexation has received

1-21     preclearance pursuant to the Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. Section

1-22     1973 et seq.) from the United States Department of Justice.

1-23           (b)  This section does not apply if the annexed area:

1-24                 (1)  was annexed on the written petition of the owners

1-25     or of a majority of the qualified voters of the area;

1-26                 (2)  is vacant;

1-27                 (3)  is without residents;

1-28                 (4)  is owned by the municipality;

1-29                 (5)  is a municipally owned airport; or

1-30                 (6)  is a municipally owned reservoir.

1-31           (c)  This section does not apply to:

1-32                 (1)  an election on the question of the creation of a

1-33     municipal special district or authority in which no part of the

1-34     area annexed is part of the proposed special district or authority

1-35     and the creation of which would not create a direct liability for

1-36     which a resident of the annexed area would be requested to pay in

1-37     any way, including through the payment of any municipal tax;

1-38                 (2)  a local option election conducted under Chapter

1-39     251, Alcoholic Beverage Code, in which no part of the area annexed

1-40     is part of the area affected by the election; or

1-41                 (3)  an election for a single-member district of the

1-42     municipality, in which no part of the area annexed is part of the

1-43     area within the district.

1-44           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-45           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-46     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-47     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-48     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-49     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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