By: Lindsay S.B. No. 601
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to withdrawal of a unit from a rapid transit authority.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 451.617, Transportation Code, is amended
1-4 to read as follows:
1-5 Sec. 451.617. WITHDRAWAL: ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR CERTAIN
1-6 AUTHORITIES. (a) In an authority created before 1980 in which the
1-7 principal municipality has a population of 750,000 or more [less
1-8 than 1.2 million], a unit of election, other than the principal
1-9 municipality, may withdraw from the authority, in addition to any
1-10 other manner provided by law, by a vote of a majority of the
1-11 registered voters of the unit of election voting at an election on
1-12 the question of withdrawing from the authority.
1-13 (b) The governing body of a unit of election in the
1-14 authority, other than the principal municipality, shall call an
1-15 election under this section in a unit of election if a petition
1-16 requesting that an election to withdraw from the authority be held
1-17 is submitted to the governing body and is signed by at least 10
1-18 percent of the registered voters of the unit of election on the
1-19 date the petition is submitted. To be counted for purposes of
1-20 validating the petition, a signature on the petition must have been
1-21 inscribed not earlier than the 120th day before the date the
1-22 petition is submitted to the governing body.
1-23 (c) The governing body, before the 31st day after the date
2-1 the petition is submitted to the governing body, shall determine
2-2 whether a petition under this section is valid, and if the
2-3 governing body fails to act on the petition before the expiration
2-4 of that period, the petition is valid.
2-5 (d) Sections 451.601, 451.607, 451.608, 451.609, 451.611,
2-6 451.612(a), and 451.613 apply to the withdrawal of a unit of
2-7 election under this section.
2-8 (e) Except as provided in Subsection (f), an [An] election
2-9 may not be held under this section on a date earlier than the first
2-10 anniversary of the date of the most recent election held under this
2-11 section.
2-12 (f) In an authority created before 1980 in which the
2-13 principal municipality has a population greater than 1.6 million,
2-14 only a unit of election in which a majority of qualified voters
2-15 voted not to confirm the authority and authorize the levy of taxes
2-16 may withdraw from the authority in accordance with the provisions
2-17 of this chapter. An election may not be held under this subsection
2-18 on a date earlier than the sixth anniversary of the date of the
2-19 most recent election held under this section.
2-20 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24 days in each house be suspended, and that this rule is hereby
2-25 suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and
3-1 after its passage, and it is so enacted.