1-1     By:  Danburg (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)                 H.B. No. 3204
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
 1-3     May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Education; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the election of members of the board of trustees of
 1-9     certain independent school districts.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 3, Chapter 339, Acts of the 52nd
1-12     Legislature, Regular Session, 1951 (Article 2774b, Vernon's Texas
1-13     Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as
1-14     follows:
1-15           (d)  The district may count write-in votes and require the
1-16     declaration of write-in candidates in the manner provided by
1-17     Section 11.056, Education Code.
1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 4, Chapter 339, Acts of the 52nd
1-19     Legislature, Regular Session, 1951 (Article 2774b, Vernon's Texas
1-20     Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-21           Sec. 4.   (a)  Any person desiring election for a position on
1-22     any such Board of Trustees shall, not less than thirty (30) days
1-23     prior to the date of said election, file with the Board of Trustees
1-24     ordering such election written notice announcing his or her
1-25     candidacy, designating in such written notice and request to have
1-26     his or her name placed on the official ballot the number of the
1-27     position on such Board of Trustees for which he or she, as the case
1-28     may be, desires to become a candidate, and all candidates so
1-29     requesting shall have their names printed on the official ballot
1-30     beneath the number of the position so designated.  A [No] person
1-31     who does not so file said notice and request, accompanied by a
1-32     filing fee or petition as provided by Subsections (b) and (c) of
1-33     this section, within the time aforesaid is not [shall be] entitled
1-34     to have his or her name printed upon said official ballot to be
1-35     used at any such election.  No candidate shall be eligible to have
1-36     his or her name placed on the official ballot under more than one
1-37     (1) position to be filled at any such election.
1-38           (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section,
1-39     the notice under Subsection (a) of this section must be accompanied
1-40     by a filing fee for the greater of $500 or the filing fee for a
1-41     candidate for state representative under Section 172.024, Election
1-42     Code.  The fee may be paid only in cash or a cashier's check,
1-43     certified check, or money order made payable to the district.
1-44           (c)  Instead of the fee under Subsection (b) of this section,
1-45     a candidate may submit a petition signed by a number of registered
1-46     voters equal to at least one-half of one percent of the total
1-47     number of votes cast in the district in the most recent
1-48     gubernatorial election.
1-49           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-50           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-51     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-52     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-53     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-54     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-55                                  * * * * *