1-1     By:  Sibley                                            S.B. No. 752
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 1, 1999; March 1, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; March 3, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 5, Nays 0; March 3, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to residents' voting rights and the right to file for
 1-9     candidacy after an area is annexed by certain small and medium
1-10     sized municipalities.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  EFFECT OF ANNEXATION ON VOTING RIGHTS AND RIGHT
1-13     TO FILE FOR CANDIDACY.  (a)  This section applies only to a
1-14     home-rule municipality with a population of 110,000 or less as
1-15     shown by the most recent federal decennial census.
1-16           (b)  Notwithstanding other law, in a municipal election held
1-17     on or after the 90th day after the effective date of an annexation,
1-18     the municipality shall permit:
1-19                 (1)  all qualified voters residing in the area annexed
1-20     to vote in any municipal election; and
1-21                 (2)  any otherwise qualified person residing in the
1-22     area annexed to file as a candidate for municipal office if the
1-23     person satisfies the residency requirements to be eligible for
1-24     candidacy by any combination of residence in the municipality or
1-25     the area annexed.
1-26           SECTION 2.  EXTENSION OF FILING DEADLINE IN CERTAIN
1-27     CIRCUMSTANCES.  In an election held under Section 1 of this Act, if
1-28     the filing deadline for a candidate's application for a place on
1-29     the ballot in a municipal election expires by other law before the
1-30     effective date of this Act, the filing deadline is extended to the
1-31     third day after the effective date of this Act for purposes of
1-32     permitting a person who resides in the area annexed to file for
1-33     candidacy.
1-34           SECTION 3.  EXPIRATION DATE OF ACT.  This Act expires January
1-35     1, 2000.
1-36           SECTION 4.  APPLICATION OF ACT.  The change in law made by
1-37     this Act applies:
1-38                 (1)  only to an election held on or after the effective
1-39     date of this Act; and
1-40                 (2)  to annexations that occur before, on, or after the
1-41     effective date of this Act.
1-42           SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
1-43     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-44     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-45     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-46     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-47     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-48     passage, and it is so enacted.
1-49                                  * * * * *