By Sibley                                              S.B. No. 752
         76R8250 PAM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to residents' voting rights and the right to file for
 1-3     candidacy after an area is annexed by certain small and medium
 1-4     sized municipalities.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  EFFECT OF ANNEXATION ON VOTING RIGHTS AND RIGHT
 1-7     TO FILE FOR CANDIDACY.  (a)  This section applies only to a
 1-8     home-rule municipality with a population of 110,000 or less as
 1-9     shown by the most recent federal decennial census.
1-10           (b)  Notwithstanding other law, in a municipal election held
1-11     on or after the 90th day after the effective date of an annexation,
1-12     the municipality shall permit:
1-13                 (1)  all qualified voters residing in the area annexed
1-14     to vote in any municipal election; and
1-15                 (2)  any otherwise qualified person residing in the
1-16     area annexed to file as a candidate for municipal office if the
1-17     person satisfies the residency requirements to be eligible for
1-18     candidacy by any combination of residence in the municipality or
1-19     the area annexed.
1-20           SECTION 2.  EXTENSION OF FILING DEADLINE IN CERTAIN
1-21     CIRCUMSTANCES.  In an election held under Section 1 of this Act, if
1-22     the filing deadline for a candidate's application for a place on
1-23     the ballot in a municipal election expires by other law before the
1-24     effective date of this Act, the filing deadline is extended to the
 2-1     third day after the effective date of this Act for purposes of
 2-2     permitting a person who resides in the area annexed  to file for
 2-3     candidacy.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  EXPIRATION DATE OF ACT.  This Act expires January
 2-5     1, 2000.
 2-6           SECTION 4.  APPLICATION OF ACT.  The change in law made by
 2-7     this Act applies:
 2-8                 (1)  only to an election held on or after the effective
 2-9     date of this Act; and
2-10                 (2)  to annexations that occur before, on, or after the
2-11     effective date of this Act.
2-12           SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
2-13     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.