By Madden                                              H.B. No. 309
         76R1560 DRH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the validity of a signature on a petition for an
 1-3     election.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 141.063, Election Code, is amended by
 1-6     adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
 1-7           (e)  A petition signature is invalid if the signer signed the
 1-8     petition earlier than the 120th day before the date the petition is
 1-9     filed.
1-10           SECTION 2.  Section 277.002(e), Election Code, is amended to
1-11     read as follows:  
1-12           (e)  A petition signature is invalid if the signer signed the
1-13     petition earlier than the 120th [180th] day before the date the
1-14     petition is  filed.
1-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-16     applies only to a petition for an election that is filed on or
1-17     after that date.  A petition for an election that is filed before
1-18     September 1, 1999, is governed by the law in effect at the time the
1-19     petition was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
1-20     that purpose.
1-21           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.