By Harris                                              S.B. No. 234
         77R202 DRH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the date of the primary election and related
 1-3     procedures.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Sections 41.007(a), (b), and (c), Election Code,
 1-6     are amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  The general primary election date is the first [second]
 1-8     Tuesday in March in each even-numbered year.
 1-9           (b)  The runoff primary election date is the first [second]
1-10     Tuesday in April following the general primary election.
1-11           (c)  The presidential primary election date is the first
1-12     [second] Tuesday in March in each presidential election year.
1-13           SECTION 2. Section 172.023(a), Election Code, is amended to
1-14     read as follows:
1-15           (a)  An application for a place on the general primary
1-16     election ballot must be filed not later than 6 p.m. on December 26
1-17     [January 2] in the year before the primary election year unless the
1-18     filing deadline is extended under Subchapter C.
1-19           SECTION 3. The term of a person who is serving as a county or
1-20     precinct chair of a political party on the effective date of this
1-21     Act ends on the 20th day after the first Tuesday in April 2004.
1-22           SECTION 4. The secretary of state by rule shall modify
1-23     applicable procedures, dates, and deadlines in the Election Code to
1-24     implement the changes in primary election dates made by this Act.
 2-1           SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.