By Danburg                                            H.B. No. 3204
         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 the election of members of the board of trustees of
 1-3     certain independent school districts.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 3, Chapter 339, Special Laws, Acts of the
 1-6     52nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1951 (Article 2774b, Vernon's
 1-7     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read
 1-8     as follows:
 1-9           (d)  The district may count write-in votes and require the
1-10     declaration of write-in candidates in the manner provided by
1-11     Section 11.056, Education Code, or other General Laws applicable to
1-12     independent school districts.
1-13           SECTION 2.  Section 4, Chapter 339, Special Laws, Acts of the
1-14     52nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1951 (Article 2774b, Vernon's
1-15     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-16           Sec. 4.  (a)  Any person desiring election for a position on
1-17     any such Board of Trustees shall, not less than thirty (30) days
1-18     prior to the date of said election, file with the Board of Trustees
1-19     ordering such election written notice announcing his or her
1-20     candidacy, designating in such written notice and request to have
1-21     his or her name placed on the official ballot the number of the
 2-1     position on such Board of Trustees for which he or she, as the case
 2-2     may be, desires to become a candidate, and all candidates so
 2-3     requesting shall have their names printed on the official ballot
 2-4     beneath the number of the position so designated.  No person who
 2-5     does not file said notice, [and] request and filing fee or
 2-6     petition, as provided in Subsections (b) and (c) of this Section,
 2-7     within the time aforesaid shall be entitled to have his or her name
 2-8     printed upon said official ballot to be used at any such election.
 2-9     No candidate shall be eligible to have his or her name placed on
2-10     the official ballot under more than one (1) position to be filled
2-11     at any such election.
2-12           (b)  Except as provided in Subsection (c), the written notice
2-13     must be accompanied by a filing fee and must be in the form of cash
2-14     or a cashier's check or a certified check or a money order made
2-15     payable to the district in the amount of the greater of $500 or the
2-16     filing fee for a candidate for election to the House of
2-17     Representatives.
2-18           (c)  A candidate may submit with the written notice a
2-19     petition signed by qualified voters of at least one-half of one
2-20     percent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent
2-21     gubernatorial election in the district.
2-22           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-23           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.