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.

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