1-1     By:  Ogden                                            S.B. No. 1211

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1997; March 17, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental

 1-4     Relations; April 3, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable

 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0;

 1-6     April 3, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1211                   By:  Ogden

 1-8                                   AN ACT

 1-9     relating to the meetings of a commissioners court of a county.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 81.005, Local Government

1-12     Code, is amended to read as follows:

1-13           (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section,

1-14     the term shall be held at:

1-15                 (1)  the county seat at the courthouse;

1-16                 (2)  an auxiliary courthouse, courthouse annex, or

1-17     another building in the county acquired by the county under Chapter

1-18     292, 293, or 305 or another law, that houses county administration

1-19     offices or county or district courts, located inside the city

1-20     limits of the county seat; [or]

1-21                 (3)  the regular meeting place of another political

1-22     subdivision if:

1-23                       (A)  the commissioners court meets [serves a

1-24     county with a population of 350,000 or more and is meeting] with

1-25     the governing body of that political subdivision located wholly or

1-26     partly within the county; and

1-27                       (B)  [if] the regular meeting place of that

1-28     political subdivision is in the county;

1-29                 (4)  a meeting place in the county in a building owned

1-30     by another political subdivision located wholly or partly in the

1-31     county if:

1-32                       (A)  the commissioners court meets with the

1-33     governing body of that political subdivision;

1-34                       (B)  the places where the commissioners court and

1-35     the governing body of the political subdivision regularly hold

1-36     their meetings are not large enough to accommodate the number of

1-37     persons expected to attend the meeting; and

1-38                       (C)  the meeting place in the building owned by

1-39     the political subdivision is large enough to accommodate the

1-40     expected number of persons; or

1-41                 (5)  a meeting place in the county in a building owned

1-42     by the county if:

1-43                       (A)  the place where the commissioners court

1-44     regularly holds its meetings is not large enough to accommodate the

1-45     number of persons expected to attend the meeting; and

1-46                       (B)  the meeting place in the building owned by

1-47     the county is large enough to accommodate the expected number of

1-48     persons.

1-49           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-50           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-51     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-52     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-53     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-54     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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