By Barrientos                                   S.J.R. No. 46

      75R5210 JSA-D                           

                                 A JOINT RESOLUTION

 1-1     proposing a constitutional amendment relating to the election of

 1-2     state senators.

 1-3           BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 3, Article III, Texas Constitution, is

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 3.  (a)  The Senators shall be chosen by the qualified

 1-7     electors for the term of four years. [;]

 1-8           (b)  A [but a]  new Senate shall be chosen after every

 1-9     apportionment, and the Senators elected after each apportionment

1-10     shall be divided by lot into two classes.  The seats of the

1-11     Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of

1-12     the first two years, and those of the second class at the

1-13     expiration of four years, so that one half of the Senators shall be

1-14     chosen biennially thereafter.

1-15           (c)  Senators shall take office following their election, on

1-16     the day set by law for the convening of the Regular Session of the

1-17     Legislature, and shall serve thereafter for the full term of years

1-18     to which elected and until their successors shall have been elected

1-19     and qualified.

1-20           (d)  This subsection applies beginning with the election of

1-21     Senators in 1998.  Notwithstanding Subsection (b) of this section,

1-22     if an apportionment is adopted by the Legislature for the election

1-23     of Senators in 1998 and the Senate districts established by that

1-24     apportionment are the same as the districts established by the

 2-1     apportionment under which Senators were elected in 1996, this

 2-2     section does not require the election of a new Senate in 1998 or at

 2-3     a subsequent election using the same apportionment or the same

 2-4     Senate districts, and the staggered terms established for the

 2-5     Senators elected in 1994 and subsequent elections remain in effect

 2-6     for the 1998 and subsequent elections until an apportionment is

 2-7     made that changes the districts used to elect Senators in 1996 and

 2-8     1998.  This subsection expires January 1, 2002.

 2-9           SECTION 2.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be

2-10     submitted to the voters at an election to be held on November 4,

2-11     1997.  The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or

2-12     against the following proposition: "The constitutional amendment

2-13     adding a temporary provision to prevent the interruption of the

2-14     full terms of the members of the Texas Senate as long as no changes

2-15     are made to senate districts before the next federal decennial

2-16     census."