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.