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.