1-1     By:  Haywood                                          S.B. No. 1628
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; March 31, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; March 31, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the operation of the Muenster Hospital District.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 4, Chapter 477, Acts of
1-11     the 59th Legislature, Regular Session, 1965, is amended to read as
1-12     follows:
1-13           (a)  The Board of Directors consists of nine Directors.
1-14     Directors elected at elections held after May, 1997, serve
1-15     staggered three-year terms.  A regular election for Directors shall
1-16     be held on the first Saturday in May of each year.  The regular
1-17     election for Directors shall be ordered by the Board and such order
1-18     shall state the time, place and purpose of the election, and the
1-19     Board shall appoint the presiding judge who shall appoint an
1-20     assistant judge and such clerks as may be required, and such
1-21     election shall be ordered in accordance with Section 3.005,
1-22     Election Code [at least 45 days prior to the date on which it is to
1-23     be held].  Any person desiring his name to be printed on the ballot
1-24     as a candidate for director shall file an application with the
1-25     secretary of the Board of Directors of the District in accordance
1-26     with Section 144.005, Election Code [at least 31 days prior to the
1-27     date of election].  Notice of such election shall be published one
1-28     time in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of the
1-29     District in accordance with Section 4.003(a)(1), Election Code [at
1-30     least 36 days before the election].  All vacancies in office shall
1-31     be filled by a majority vote of the remaining Directors and such
1-32     appointees shall hold office for the unexpired term for which they
1-33     were appointed.
1-34           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-35           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-36     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-37     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-38     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-39     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-40                                  * * * * *