By: Whitmire S.B. No. 1175
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to recall elections to remove a member of the board of
1-2 directors of a municipal utility district.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 54, Water Code, is amended
1-5 by adding Section 54.103 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 54.103. RECALL ELECTION PROCEDURES. (a) The qualified
1-7 voters of a district in an election held for the purpose may recall
1-8 a member of the board as provided by this section.
1-9 (b) A recall election is initiated by filing a recall
1-10 petition with the general manager of the district or the attorney
1-11 for the district.
1-12 (c) The petition must be signed and verified by at least 10
1-13 percent of the qualified voters of the district, include a
1-14 statement demanding the removal of a director, and contain a
1-15 general statement of the grounds for which the removal is sought.
1-16 One of the signers of each page of the petition must make an
1-17 affidavit that the statements made in the petition are true.
1-18 (d) Not later than the 20th day after the petition is filed,
1-19 the general manager or attorney for the district shall examine the
1-20 petition and determine whether it complies with Subsection (c).
1-21 The general manager or attorney for the district shall certify in
1-22 writing whether the petition complies with Subsection (c) and shall
1-23 present this certification to the board.
2-1 (e) If the director whose removal is sought does not resign
2-2 within five days after the presentation to the board of a petition
2-3 certified as complying with Subsection (c), the board shall order
2-4 and hold a recall election not less than 30 or more than 60 days
2-5 after the certified petition is presented to the board.
2-6 (f) The ballot for a recall election shall be as follows:
2-7 (1) for each director whose removal is sought the
2-8 following question shall be submitted: "Shall (name of director)
2-9 be removed from the office of director of the (name of district)?";
2-10 and
2-11 (2) immediately below each question the following
2-12 propositions shall be printed, in the order indicated:
2-13 "For the recall of (name of director)"
2-14 "Against the recall of (name of director)."
2-15 (g) If a majority of the votes cast are cast against removal
2-16 of the director named on the ballot, that director shall remain in
2-17 office. If a majority of the votes cast are in favor of the
2-18 removal of the director named on the ballot, the board shall
2-19 immediately declare that director's office vacant and the vacancy
2-20 shall be filled at an election called to replace the recalled
2-21 director. Notwithstanding Section 49.103, the election shall be
2-22 held not less than 30 or more than 90 days after the date the board
2-23 declares the recalled director's office vacant. A director removed
2-24 by recall may not be a candidate in an election called to fill the
2-25 vacancy created by the director's removal. The board may not
3-1 appoint a director removed by recall to fill an unexpired term.
3-2 (h) A recall petition may not be filed against a director
3-3 within six months after the director takes office. A director may
3-4 not be subject to more than one recall election during one term of
3-5 office.
3-6 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-11 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-12 passage, and it is so enacted.