1-1 By: Lindsay S.B. No. 601
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 13, 1997; February 19, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
1-4 Relations; March 3, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0;
1-6 March 3, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 601 By: Lindsay
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to withdrawal of a unit from a rapid transit authority.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 451.617, Transportation Code, is amended
1-13 to read as follows:
1-14 Sec. 451.617. WITHDRAWAL: ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR CERTAIN
1-15 AUTHORITIES. (a) In an authority created before 1980 in which the
1-16 principal municipality has a population of 750,000 or more [less
1-17 than 1.2 million], a unit of election, other than the principal
1-18 municipality, may withdraw from the authority, in addition to any
1-19 other manner provided by law, by a vote of a majority of the
1-20 registered voters of the unit of election voting at an election on
1-21 the question of withdrawing from the authority.
1-22 (b) The governing body of a unit of election in the
1-23 authority, other than the principal municipality, shall call an
1-24 election under this section in a unit of election if a petition
1-25 requesting that an election to withdraw from the authority be held
1-26 is submitted to the governing body and is signed by at least 10
1-27 percent of the registered voters of the unit of election on the
1-28 date the petition is submitted. To be counted for purposes of
1-29 validating the petition, a signature on the petition must have been
1-30 inscribed not earlier than the 120th day before the date the
1-31 petition is submitted to the governing body.
1-32 (c) The governing body, before the 31st day after the date
1-33 the petition is submitted to the governing body, shall determine
1-34 whether a petition under this section is valid, and if the
1-35 governing body fails to act on the petition before the expiration
1-36 of that period, the petition is valid.
1-37 (d) Sections 451.601, 451.607, 451.608, 451.609, 451.611,
1-38 451.612(a), and 451.613 apply to the withdrawal of a unit of
1-39 election under this section.
1-40 (e) Except as provided in Subsection (f), an [An] election
1-41 may not be held under this section on a date earlier than the first
1-42 anniversary of the date of the most recent election held under this
1-43 section.
1-44 (f) In an authority created before 1980 in which the
1-45 principal municipality has a population greater than 1.6 million,
1-46 an election may not be held under this section on a date earlier
1-47 than the sixth anniversary of the date of the most recent election
1-48 held under this section.
1-49 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-50 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-51 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-52 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-53 days in each house be suspended, and that this rule is hereby
1-54 suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and
1-55 after its passage, and it is so enacted.
1-56 * * * * *