By Moreno of El Paso                                   H.B. No. 993
         76R2866 PAM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring candidates for or appointees to certain
 1-3     elective offices to be registered voters.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 141.001(a), Election Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  To be eligible to be a candidate for, or elected or
 1-8     appointed to, a public elective office in this state, a person
 1-9     must:
1-10                 (1)  be a United States citizen;
1-11                 (2)  be 18 years of age or older on the first day of
1-12     the term to be filled at the election or on the date of
1-13     appointment, as applicable;
1-14                 (3)  be a registered voter on the date the person, as
1-15     applicable:
1-16                       (A)  files an application for a place on the
1-17     ballot, an application for nomination by convention, a declaration
1-18     of intent to become an independent  candidate, or a declaration of
1-19     write-in candidacy; or
1-20                       (B)  is appointed to an office;
1-21                 (4) have not been determined mentally incompetent by a
1-22     final judgment of a court;
1-23                 (5) [(4)]  have not been finally convicted of a felony
1-24     from which the person has not been pardoned or otherwise released
 2-1     from the  resulting disabilities;
 2-2                 (6) [(5)]  have resided continuously in the state for
 2-3     12 months and in the territory from which the office is elected for
 2-4     six months  immediately preceding the following date:
 2-5                       (A)  for a candidate whose name is to appear on a
 2-6     general primary election ballot, the date of the regular filing
 2-7     deadline for a candidate's application for a place on the ballot;
 2-8                       (B)  for an independent candidate, the date of
 2-9     the regular filing deadline for a candidate's application for a
2-10     place on the ballot;
2-11                       (C)  for a write-in candidate, the date of the
2-12     election at which the candidate's name is written in;
2-13                       (D)  for a party nominee who is nominated by any
2-14     method other than by primary election, the date the nomination is
2-15     made; and
2-16                       (E)  for an appointee to an office, the date the
2-17     appointment is made; and
2-18                 (7) [(6)]  satisfy any other eligibility requirements
2-19     prescribed by law for the office.
2-20           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-21           (b)  The change in law made by this Act does not apply to a
2-22     person who holds  office on the effective date of this Act during
2-23     the term of that office.
2-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-25     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-26     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-27     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.