By Thompson                                            H.B. No. 675
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to withdrawal of a unit from a rapid transit authority.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 451.617, Transportation Code, is amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 451.617.  Withdrawal:  Alternative Method for Certain
 1-7     Authorities.  (a)  In an authority created before 1980 in which the
 1-8     principal municipality has a population of 750,000 or more [less
 1-9     than 1.2 million], a unit of election, other than the principal
1-10     municipality, may withdraw from the authority, in addition to any
1-11     other manner provided by law, by a vote of a majority of the
1-12     registered voters of the unit of election voting at an election on
1-13     the question of withdrawing from the authority.
1-14           (b)  The governing body of a unit of election in the
1-15     authority, other than the principal municipality, shall call an
1-16     election under this section in a unit of election if a petition
1-17     requesting that an election to withdraw from the authority be held
1-18     is submitted to the governing body and is signed by at least 10
1-19     percent of the registered voters of the unit of election on the
1-20     date the petition is submitted.  To be counted for purposes of
1-21     validating the petition, a signature on the petition must have been
 2-1     inscribed not earlier than the 120th day before the date the
 2-2     petition is submitted to the governing body.
 2-3           (c)  The governing body, before the 31st day after the date
 2-4     the petition is submitted to the governing body, shall determine
 2-5     whether a petition under this section is valid, and if the
 2-6     governing body fails to act on the petition before the expiration
 2-7     of that period, the petition is valid.
 2-8           (d)  Sections 451.601, 451.607, 451.608, 451.609, 451.611,
 2-9     451.612(a), and 451.613 apply to the withdrawal of a unit of
2-10     election under this section.
2-11           (e)  Except as provided in Subsection (f), an [An] election
2-12     may not be held under this section on a date earlier than the first
2-13     anniversary of the date of the most recent election held under this
2-14     section.
2-15           (f)  In an authority created before 1980 in which the
2-16     principal municipality has a population greater than 1.6 million,
2-17     an election may not be held under this section on a date earlier
2-18     than the sixth anniversary of the date of the most recent held
2-19     election under this section.
2-20           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-24     days in each house be suspended, and that this rule is hereby
2-25     suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and
 3-1     after its passage, and it is so enacted.