75R11767 MI-D
By Whitmire S.B. No. 1175
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1175:
By Counts C.S.S.B. No. 1175
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to recall elections to remove a member of the board of
1-3 directors of a municipal utility district.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 54, Water Code, is amended
1-6 by adding Section 54.103 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 54.103. RECALL ELECTION PROCEDURES. (a) The qualified
1-8 voters of a district in an election held for the purpose may recall
1-9 a member of the board as provided by this section.
1-10 (b) A recall election is initiated by filing a recall
1-11 petition with the general manager of the district or the attorney
1-12 for the district.
1-13 (c) The petition must be signed and verified by at least 10
1-14 percent of the qualified voters of the district, include a
1-15 statement demanding the removal of a director, and contain a
1-16 general statement of the grounds for which the removal is sought.
1-17 (d) Each part of a petition under this section must include
1-18 an affidavit of the person who circulated it stating that the
1-19 person:
1-20 (1) pointed out and read to each signer, before the
1-21 petition was signed, each statement pertaining to the signer that
1-22 appears on the petition;
1-23 (2) witnessed each signature;
1-24 (3) verified each signer's registration status; and
2-1 (4) believes each signature to be genuine and the
2-2 corresponding information to be correct.
2-3 (e) If a petition under this section contains an affidavit
2-4 that complies with Subsection (d), for the purpose of determining
2-5 whether the petition contains a sufficient number of valid
2-6 signatures, the authority with whom the petition is filed may treat
2-7 as valid each signature to which the affidavit applies without
2-8 further verification unless proven otherwise.
2-9 (f) Not later than the 20th day after the petition is filed,
2-10 the general manager or attorney for the district shall examine the
2-11 petition and determine whether it complies with Subsections (c),
2-12 (d), and (e). The general manager or attorney for the district
2-13 shall certify in writing whether the petition complies with
2-14 Subsections (c), (d), and (e) and shall present this certification
2-15 to the board.
2-16 (g) If the director whose removal is sought does not resign
2-17 within five days after the presentation to the board of a petition
2-18 certified as complying with Subsections (c), (d), and (e), the
2-19 board shall order and hold a recall election not less than 30 or
2-20 more than 60 days after the certified petition is presented to the
2-21 board.
2-22 (h) The ballot for a recall election shall be as follows:
2-23 (1) for each director whose removal is sought the
2-24 following question shall be submitted: "Shall (name of director)
2-25 be removed from the office of director of the (name of district)?";
2-26 and
2-27 (2) immediately below each question the following
3-1 propositions shall be printed, in the order indicated:
3-2 "For the recall of (name of director)"
3-3 "Against the recall of (name of director)."
3-4 (i) If a majority of the votes cast are cast against removal
3-5 of the director named on the ballot, that director shall remain in
3-6 office. If a majority of the votes cast are in favor of the
3-7 removal of the director named on the ballot, the board shall
3-8 immediately declare that director's office vacant and the vacancy
3-9 shall be filled at an election called to replace the recalled
3-10 director. Notwithstanding Section 49.103, the election shall be
3-11 held not less than 30 or more than 90 days after the date the board
3-12 declares the recalled director's office vacant. An election held
3-13 under this section is not subject to Section 41.001(a), Election
3-14 Code. A director removed by recall may not be a candidate in an
3-15 election called to fill the vacancy created by the director's
3-16 removal. The board may not appoint a director removed by recall to
3-17 fill an unexpired term.
3-18 (j) A recall petition may not be filed against a director
3-19 within six months after the director takes office. A director may
3-20 not be subject to more than one recall election during one term of
3-21 office.
3-22 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-1 passage, and it is so enacted.