By:  Ogden                                            S.B. No. 1211

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the meetings of a commissioners court of a county.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 81.005, Local Government

 1-4     Code, is amended to read as follows:

 1-5           (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section,

 1-6     the term shall be held at:

 1-7                 (1)  the county seat at the courthouse;

 1-8                 (2)  an auxiliary courthouse, courthouse annex, or

 1-9     another building in the county acquired by the county under Chapter

1-10     292, 293, or 305 or another law, that houses county administration

1-11     offices or county or district courts, located inside the city

1-12     limits of the county seat; [or]

1-13                 (3)  the regular meeting place of another political

1-14     subdivision if:

1-15                       (A)  the commissioners court meets [serves a

1-16     county with a population of 350,000 or more and is meeting] with

1-17     the governing body of that political subdivision located wholly or

1-18     partly within the county; and

1-19                       (B)  [if] the regular meeting place of that

1-20     political subdivision is in the county;

1-21                 (4)  a meeting place in the county in a building owned

1-22     by another political subdivision located wholly or partly in the

1-23     county if:

 2-1                       (A)  the commissioners court meets with the

 2-2     governing body of that political subdivision;

 2-3                       (B)  the places where the commissioners court and

 2-4     the governing body of the political subdivision regularly hold

 2-5     their meetings are not large enough to accommodate the number of

 2-6     persons expected to attend the meeting; and

 2-7                       (C)  the meeting place in the building owned by

 2-8     the political subdivision is large enough to accommodate the

 2-9     expected number of persons; or

2-10                 (5)  a meeting place in the county in a building owned

2-11     by the county if:

2-12                       (A)  the place where the commissioners court

2-13     regularly holds its meetings is not large enough to accommodate the

2-14     number of persons expected to attend the meeting; and

2-15                       (B)  the meeting place in the building owned by

2-16     the county is large enough to accommodate the expected number of

2-17     persons.

2-18           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-19           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.