By: Wentworth S.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 AN ACT 1-1 relating to the adoption of a county charter by Bexar County. 1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-3 SECTION 1. Title 3, Local Government Code, is amended by 1-4 adding Subtitle C to read as follows: 1-5 SUBTITLE C. COUNTY CHARTER 1-6 CHAPTER 92. COUNTY CHARTER IN BEXAR COUNTY 1-7 Sec. 92.001. APPOINTMENT OF CHARTER COMMISSION BY 1-8 COMMISSIONERS COURT. (a) The Commissioners Court of Bexar County 1-9 may at any time appoint the members of a commission to draft a 1-10 charter under Section 64A, Article III, Texas Constitution. The 1-11 appointed members shall represent: 1-12 (1) the unincorporated area of Bexar County; and 1-13 (2) municipalities, other than San Antonio, located 1-14 partly or wholly in Bexar County. 1-15 (b) If the Commissioners Court of Bexar County is notified 1-16 of the intention of the governing body of San Antonio to appoint a 1-17 charter commission under Section 92.002 (a) or if the commissioners 1-18 court is petitioned to appoint a charter commission under Section 1-19 92.003, the Commissioners Court of Bexar County shall appoint the 1-20 members of a commission to draft a charter. The appointed members 1-21 shall represent: 1-22 (1) the unincorporated area of Bexar County; and 2-1 (2) municipalities, other than San Antonio, located 2-2 partly or wholly in Bexar County. 2-3 Sec. 92.002. APPOINTMENT OF CHARTER COMMISSION BY SAN 2-4 ANTONIO GOVERNING BODY. (a) The governing body of San Antonio may 2-5 at any time appoint the members representing San Antonio on a 2-6 commission to draft a charter for Bexar County under Section 64A, 2-7 Article III, Texas Constitution. 2-8 (b) The governing body of San Antonio shall appoint the 2-9 members representing San Antonio on a commission to draft a charter 2-10 for Bexar County if the governing body is notified of the 2-11 commissioners court's intention to appoint a charter commission 2-12 under Section 92.001(a) or 92.004(b). 2-13 Sec. 92.003. INITIATION OF CHARTER PROCESS BY PETITION. A 2-14 petition for the appointment of a charter commission must: 2-15 (1) be filed with the office of the county clerk of 2-16 Bexar County; 2-17 (2) be signed by a number of registered voters of 2-18 Bexar County at least equal to 10 percent of the number of votes 2-19 received for governor in the county in the most recent 2-20 gubernatorial election; and 2-21 (3) comply with the applicable requirements of general 2-22 law relating to a petition authorized or required to be filed in 2-23 connection with an election. 2-24 Sec. 92.004. VERIFICATION OF PETITION. (a) Not later than 2-25 the 30th day after the date the petition is filed with the county 2-26 clerk, the clerk shall determine whether the petition meets the 3-1 requirements of Section 92.003 and shall certify in writing to the 3-2 commissioners court whether the petition is valid or invalid. 3-3 (b) If the county clerk certifies that the petition is 3-4 valid, the commissioners court shall make its appointments to a 3-5 charter commission not later than the 120th day after the date the 3-6 commissioners court receives the clerk's certification. 3-7 (c) If the petition is certified as invalid, the county 3-8 clerk shall state the reason for that determination. A person 3-9 circulating the petition has 60 days after the date of 3-10 certification to submit additional petitions or signatures to cure 3-11 the determination of a deficiency, and the clerk, not later than 3-12 the 21st day after the filing of the additional petitions or 3-13 signatures, shall determine whether the additional petitions or 3-14 signatures are sufficient to cure the deficiency and shall certify 3-15 that determination to the commissioners court. 3-16 Sec. 92.005. NOTIFICATION TO POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS. 3-17 (a) Not later than the 30th day after the date the commissioners 3-18 court is required to appoint a charter commission under Section 3-19 92.004(b) or after the date the commissioners court decides to 3-20 appoint a charter commission without a petition under Section 3-21 92.001(a), the commissioners court shall give notice to the 3-22 governing body of each municipality having any portion of its area 3-23 in Bexar County of the commissioners court's intention to appoint a 3-24 charter commission. The notice to the governing body of San Antonio 3-25 must specify the number of commission members who are appointed to 3-26 represent San Antonio on the commission under Section 92.006. 4-1 (b) Not later than the 30th day after the date the governing 4-2 body of San Antonio decides to appoint a charter commission under 4-3 Section 92.002(a), the governing body of San Antonio shall give 4-4 notice to the commissioners court and to the governing body of each 4-5 municipality having any portion of its area in Bexar County of the 4-6 San Antonio governing body's intention to appoint a charter 4-7 commission. The notice to the commissioners court must specify the 4-8 number of commission members who are to be appointed to represent 4-9 other municipalities in Bexar County and the unincorporated area on 4-10 the commission under Section 92.006. 4-11 Sec. 92.006. COMMISSION COMPOSITION. (a) The members of 4-12 the charter commission shall be divided between members appointed 4-13 by the governing body of San Antonio and members appointed by the 4-14 commissioners court, as nearly as possible based on the ratio of 4-15 San Antonio's population in Bexar County to the population of the 4-16 remainder of Bexar County. The total number of members of the 4-17 charter commission shall be determined by the commissioners court 4-18 if the court initiates the appointment of the commission or if the 4-19 court is petitioned to appoint a commission. The total number of 4-20 members of the charter commission shall be determined by the 4-21 governing body of San Antonio if the governing body of San Antonio 4-22 initiates the appointment of the commission. 4-23 (b) If the governing body of San Antonio fails to appoint 4-24 members within 60 days after the date of receiving notice of the 4-25 commissioners court's intent to appoint a charter commission, the 4-26 commissioners court shall appoint the requisite number of residents 5-1 of San Antonio to the commission. If the commissioners court fails 5-2 to appoint members within 60 days after the date of receiving 5-3 notice of the San Antonio governing body's intent to appoint a 5-4 charter commission, the governing body of San Antonio shall appoint 5-5 the requisite number of residents of the unincorporated area and of 5-6 other municipalities in Bexar County to the commission. 5-7 (c) The membership of the charter commission must reasonably 5-8 reflect the ethnic distribution of the population of: 5-9 (1) San Antonio; and 5-10 (2) the remainder of Bexar County. 5-11 (d) The membership of the charter commission, other than the 5-12 members representing San Antonio, must be reasonably balanced 5-13 between residents of other incorporated municipalities in Bexar 5-14 County and residents of the unincorporated area of Bexar County. 5-15 Sec. 92.007. PREPARATION OF CHARTER. (a) The charter 5-16 commission shall prepare the charter. The charter commission shall 5-17 file its proposed charter with the commissioners court on or before 5-18 the second anniversary of the date the first appointment to the 5-19 commission is made. 5-20 (b) When the proposed charter is filed with the 5-21 commissioners court, the commissioners court shall submit the 5-22 charter to the United States Department of Justice for preclearance 5-23 under the federal Voting Rights Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1973c et 5-24 seq.), as amended. If the requirement for preclearance under the 5-25 federal Voting Rights Act is not applicable to the proposed 5-26 charter, the commissioners court shall submit the charter to the 6-1 attorney general. The attorney general shall determine whether the 6-2 adoption of the proposed charter would result in any retrogression 6-3 in the effective voting strength of minority populations in the 6-4 county, under standards and analyses similar to the standards and 6-5 analyses applied to proposed local government charters under the 6-6 federal Voting Rights Act. 6-7 (c) If the proposed charter is precleared or the attorney 6-8 general determines that no retrogression would occur, the 6-9 commissioners court by order shall call an election to approve the 6-10 charter as proposed by the charter commission on the first 6-11 authorized uniform election date prescribed by general law after 6-12 the date the proposed charter is filed with the commissioners court 6-13 that allows sufficient time to comply with applicable requirements 6-14 of general law. 6-15 (d) If the proposed charter is not precleared or the 6-16 attorney general determines that adoption of the proposed charter 6-17 would result in retrogression in the effective voting strength of 6-18 minority populations, the commissioners court shall return the 6-19 charter one time to the charter commission for revision and 6-20 refiling with the commissioners court before the 180th day after 6-21 the date the charter is returned to the commission. If the revised 6-22 proposed charter also is not precleared or the attorney general 6-23 determines that retrogression still would occur, the commissioners 6-24 court shall dissolve the commission. A new charter commission may 6-25 be appointed under Section 92.001(a) or 92.002(a) or as required by 6-26 a petition under Section 92.003. 7-1 (e) On the date of the election called by the commissioners 7-2 court under Subsection (c), the charter commission is dissolved. 7-3 Sec. 92.008. ADOPTION OF CHARTER. (a) The adoption of the 7-4 charter must be initially approved at the election by a majority of 7-5 the votes received from the voters of Bexar County. 7-6 (b) If the charter provides for integration of the county 7-7 with one or more municipalities, the governing body of each 7-8 municipality, other than San Antonio, having more than half of the 7-9 municipality's area in Bexar County shall call an election on the 7-10 question of whether the municipality shall be integrated into the 7-11 integrated county government. The election shall be held on the 7-12 next authorized uniform election date prescribed by general law 7-13 that is after the date the proposed charter is approved under 7-14 Subsection (a) and that allows sufficient time to comply with 7-15 applicable requirements of general law. 7-16 (c) If a majority of the votes received at an election under 7-17 Subsection (b) favor the integration, the municipality shall be 7-18 integrated into the county government under the terms of the 7-19 charter. 7-20 (d) If a majority of the votes received at an election under 7-21 Subsection (b) do not favor the integration, the municipality shall 7-22 continue to exist and function as a municipality located in the 7-23 county area according to the terms of the municipality's charter 7-24 or, if the municipality does not have a charter, according to the 7-25 terms of general law. 7-26 (e) If the charter provides for integration of the county 8-1 with municipalities, the commissioners court shall call an election 8-2 in the portion of the unincorporated area in each commissioners 8-3 precinct on the question of whether that portion of the 8-4 unincorporated area shall be integrated into an urban service 8-5 district. The election shall be held on the next authorized 8-6 uniform election date prescribed by general law that is after the 8-7 date the proposed charter is approved under Subsection (a) and that 8-8 allows sufficient time to comply with applicable requirements of 8-9 general law. 8-10 (f) If a majority of the votes received at an election under 8-11 Subsection (e) favor the integration, the portion of the 8-12 unincorporated area in that commissioners precinct shall be 8-13 integrated into the urban service district under the terms of the 8-14 charter. 8-15 (g) If a majority of the votes received at an election under 8-16 Subsection (e) do not favor the integration, the portion of the 8-17 unincorporated area in that commissioners precinct shall remain 8-18 outside the urban service district, subject to any charter 8-19 provisions on expansion of the urban service district. 8-20 (h) Following the adoption of a charter that provides for 8-21 integration of the county with municipalities and the initial 8-22 election on integration of municipalities under Subsection (c), the 8-23 county may later integrate additional municipalities, special 8-24 districts or authorities, or other political subdivisions if: 8-25 (1) the county follows the conditions of the charter, 8-26 if any, for additional governmental integration; and 9-1 (2) the majority of the votes received from the voters 9-2 of the municipality, special district or authority, or political 9-3 subdivision approve, at an election, the additional integration. 9-4 Sec. 92.009. GOVERNING BODY OF INTEGRATED COUNTY GOVERNMENT. 9-5 (a) In order to protect minority voting rights and ensure equity 9-6 among the voters of an integrated county government, a charter 9-7 adopted under this section that provides for integration of the 9-8 county and municipal governments must provide for a governing body 9-9 that consists of: 9-10 (1) a presiding officer elected at large; 9-11 (2) four members elected from single-member districts 9-12 that when placed together encompass the entire territory of Bexar 9-13 County; and 9-14 (3) a number of members elected from single-member 9-15 districts that when placed together encompass the territory of the 9-16 integrated county government, and that includes the territory 9-17 outside Bexar County of any integrated municipalities and excludes 9-18 the territory of any unintegrated municipalities. 9-19 (b) The number of districts established under Subsection 9-20 (a)(3) must be sufficient to ensure that, in the first election 9-21 following the integration of governments, the average population of 9-22 the districts is no greater than the average population of 9-23 single-member districts of the governing body of San Antonio before 9-24 the date of the integration. 9-25 Sec. 92.010. SERVICE DISTRICTS. (a) In order to ensure 9-26 equity among the taxpayers of an integrated county government, a 10-1 charter that provides for integration of the county and 10-2 municipalities must divide the area in the integrated county 10-3 government into service districts for the purposes of taxation and 10-4 the provision of services. 10-5 (b) One district shall encompass the entire territory of 10-6 Bexar County before the date of the integration of local political 10-7 subdivisions. In this district, the services that the integrated 10-8 county government provides on an equal basis throughout the 10-9 district shall be financed by the levy of ad valorem taxes or other 10-10 taxes or revenues that are uniform throughout the district. This 10-11 district shall be called the county service district. 10-12 (c) One district shall encompass at least the entire 10-13 territory of San Antonio before the date of the integration of 10-14 municipalities. This district may be expanded to coincide with the 10-15 growth of urbanized areas, outside the territory and 10-16 extraterritorial jurisdiction of unintegrated municipalities, as 10-17 provided by the charter. In this district, the incremental 10-18 services provided by the integrated county government, in addition 10-19 to services provided by the county service district or at a higher 10-20 level than the services provided by the county service district, 10-21 shall be financed by an additional levy of ad valorem taxes or by 10-22 the imposition of additional taxes or revenues raised solely in the 10-23 district. This district shall be known as the urban service 10-24 district. 10-25 (d) One district shall encompass both the urban service 10-26 district and all other territory of the integrated county 11-1 government outside of unintegrated municipalities. In this 11-2 district, incremental services provided by the integrated local 11-3 government shall be financed by the additional levy of ad valorem 11-4 taxes or by additional taxes or revenues raised solely in the 11-5 district. This district shall be known as the general services 11-6 district. 11-7 (e) If a municipality other than San Antonio becomes 11-8 integrated into the county government under Section 92.008(c), or 11-9 if a municipality that remains unintegrated in the initial election 11-10 following the adoption of the charter later becomes integrated into 11-11 the county government, the municipality may either be added to the 11-12 urban service district established under Section 92.010(c) or 11-13 become an additional and separate urban service district, as 11-14 provided by the charter. 11-15 Sec. 92.011. AD VALOREM TAXES. In order to ensure equity 11-16 among the taxpayers of an integrated county government, a charter 11-17 that provides for integration of other political subdivisions must 11-18 provide that an ad valorem tax levied for debt service of the 11-19 general obligation debt that was authorized or issued by any 11-20 integrated municipality, any special district or authority, or any 11-21 other political subdivision that is a part of the integrated county 11-22 government shall continue to be levied: 11-23 (1) only in the area of the urban service district 11-24 that replaces the integrated municipality; and 11-25 (2) only in the area of the special district or 11-26 authority or the political subdivision that is integrated. 12-1 Sec. 92.012. CONSOLIDATION OF EMPLOYEES. A charter that 12-2 provides for integration of other political subdivisions must 12-3 provide that every employee, other than an elected official, of the 12-4 county and of every municipality, special district or authority, or 12-5 other political subdivision that becomes integrated into the 12-6 integrated county government, whose position is abolished as a 12-7 result of the integration of political subdivisions or whose 12-8 position is abolished within two years after the date of the 12-9 adoption of the charter by a reduction in force or administrative 12-10 reorganization, must be offered alternative employment by the 12-11 integrated county government at a salary at least equal to the 12-12 salary of the abolished position and with substantially equal 12-13 employee and retirement benefits. 12-14 Sec. 92.013. RETIREMENT BENEFITS. (a) A charter that 12-15 provides for integration of local political subdivisions must 12-16 provide for the continuation of the pension fund or the retirement 12-17 system contributions by both the integrated county government and 12-18 the employees of the integrated county government that would have 12-19 been made by the former county government, the integrated 12-20 municipalities, special districts or authorities, or other 12-21 political subdivisions and the employees of those governments 12-22 before the adoption of the charter. 12-23 (b) Employees of the integrated county government hired 12-24 after the adoption of the charter shall be placed in an appropriate 12-25 pension fund or retirement system. 12-26 Sec. 92.014. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. A charter that provides 13-1 for integration of other political subdivisions may not diminish 13-2 the rights of any employees of the integrated county government to 13-3 organize, to meet and confer, and to bargain collectively with the 13-4 officials of the integrated county government over wages, hours of 13-5 work, and other terms of employment as provided by state law. 13-6 Sec. 92.015. ANNEXATION. (a) A charter that provides for 13-7 integration of municipalities must, within Bexar County, establish 13-8 procedures for the progressive territorial expansion of the urban 13-9 service district to reflect the growth of the urbanized area. 13-10 (b) In areas outside Bexar County, the integrated county 13-11 government may take any action in respect to the urban service 13-12 district that a municipality having the same size and population as 13-13 the urban service district may take to annex territory to the 13-14 district, to extend the district's extraterritorial jurisdiction, 13-15 or to alter the boundaries of the district under this code. 13-16 (c) The extraterritorial jurisdiction located in Bexar 13-17 County of a municipality that is not integrated under this chapter 13-18 may not be expanded as a consequence of annexation by the 13-19 municipality. The municipality may engage in boundary adjustments 13-20 by agreement with the integrated county government. 13-21 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect on the date on which the 13-22 constitutional amendment proposed by the 76th Legislature, Regular 13-23 Session, 1999, adding Section 64A, Article III, Texas Constitution, 13-24 and providing for the adoption of a county charter in certain 13-25 counties, takes effect. If that amendment is not approved by the 13-26 voters, this Act has no effect.