By Madla                                              S.B. No. 1890
         76R14044 MI-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to voter eligibility in Maverick County Water Control and
 1-3     Improvement District No. 1.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 51, Water Code, is amended
 1-6     by adding Section 51.221 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 51.221.  ELIGIBILITY TO VOTE:  MAVERICK COUNTY WATER
 1-8     CONTROL AND IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 1.  (a)  In this section,
 1-9     "district" means the Maverick County Water Control and Improvement
1-10     District No. 1.
1-11           (b)  A person is eligible to vote in an election conducted by
1-12     the district if the person:
1-13                 (1)  is 18 years of age or older;
1-14                 (2)  is a United States citizen;
1-15                 (3)  is an individual who holds title or an interest in
1-16     title to farm land or ranch land within the boundaries of the
1-17     district; and
1-18                 (4)  receives and uses irrigation water delivered by
1-19     the district by and through the district's canal system.
1-20           (c)  A person eligible to vote under Subsection (b) must
1-21     register with the district not later than the 30th day before a
1-22     district election in order to vote in that district election.  The
1-23     district shall file with the county clerk of Maverick County a
1-24     certified copy of the list of the district's registered voters not
 2-1     later than the 25th day before each district election.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  A person who on January 1, 2000, is not eligible
 2-3     under Section 51.221(b), Water Code, as added by this Act, to vote
 2-4     in an election held by the Maverick County Water Control and
 2-5     Improvement District No. 1 is not liable for any tax imposed by the
 2-6     district on or after that date.  The person continues to be liable
 2-7     for the payment of any tax imposed before that date and for the
 2-8     person's pro rata share of any district debt existing on that date.
 2-9           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-10           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.