LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  May 16, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Paul Sadler, Chair            IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 232, Committee Report 2nd House, as amended
          Committee on Public Education                              By: Carona
          House
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB232 ( Relating 
to an optional majority vote requirement for election of trustees 
in certain independent school districts.) this office has detemined 
the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by SB232-Committee Report 2nd House, as amended
         
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
         

         
 
          
The fiscal implication to units of local government is described 
below.

Bill Summary

The bill would amend Section 11.057 
of the Texas Education Code to allow single-member or by-place 
independent school districts electing trustees to modify their 
voting rules to permit the adoption of a majority (as opposed 
to a plurality) vote requirement.

The legislation would take 
effect September 1, 1997.

History

By-place systems previously 
were allowed to elect by majority but this language was not 
retained in Senate Bill 1 (1995).  Thus, under current law, 
the Election Code's general provision that candidates win by 
plurality unless otherwise provided prevails.  The bill would 
restore majority vote as an option.

Administrative Costs 
to Local Government

Districts that chose a majority vote 
requirement could incur additional costs due to special elections 
for races in which no candidate receives a majority vote.  No 
information is available as to the number of districts that 
could choose this option or the number of special elections 
that could be necessary from such decisions.  

Local election 
costs vary widely by district.  If a special election is held 
on the same date as another state or local election, there would 
be no significant fiscal impact to the local government to add 
the language associated with this item to the ballot.  If the 
election were held specifically for the purpose of electing 
district trustees, the local government would absorb all costs 
associated with the election.  According to data collected in 
a random survey of eight counties conducted by the Texas Association 
of Counties, the cost of a local option election ranges from 
approximately $0.12 per county resident to $1.14 per county 
resident, with a median per county resident cost of $0.40.  
Per resident local school district election costs are estimated 
to be equal to per resident county election costs.  

Continuing 
Fiscal Implications - Local

The fiscal implications described 
above would likely continue beyond 2002.
          
   Source:            Agencies:   307   Secretary of State
                                         701   Texas Education Agency - Administration
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,CB ,DH ,LP ,GJ