78R9308 ATP-D


By:  Van Arsdale                                                  H.B. No. 662

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 662:                                    

By:  Howard                                                   C.S.H.B. No. 662



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the right of a resident of an area included in a 
municipal annexation plan to vote in a municipal election.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 43, Local Government Code, 
is amended by adding Section 43.0525 to read as follows:
	Sec. 43.0525.  EFFECT OF ANNEXATION PLAN ON VOTING 
RIGHTS.  (a)  A resident of an area included in a municipal 
annexation plan is entitled to vote, as if the person were a 
resident of the municipality, in a municipal election, other than a 
bond election, held after the municipality gives written notice to 
any person under Section 43.052(f) that the area is included in the 
municipality's annexation plan.  Not later than the 30th day after 
the date a resident of an area included in a municipal annexation 
plan is entitled to vote under this subsection, the municipality 
shall seek preclearance for the annexation plan under Section 5, 
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. Section 1973c), by submitting 
the annexation plan to the United States attorney general or by 
filing a declaratory judgment action in the United States District 
Court for the District of Columbia.
	(b)  If a municipality amends an annexation plan to exclude 
an area, the residents of that area may not vote in a municipal 
election held after the municipality gives written notice to any 
person under Section 43.052(f) that the area is excluded from the 
municipality's annexation plan.
	(c)  If a member of the municipality's governing body is 
elected by only the voters residing in a territorial unit that does 
not include the entire municipality, the municipality shall 
designate in the annexation plan the territorial unit in which an 
area proposed to be annexed will be included.
	(d)  On or after the 15th day but before the fifth day before 
the date of the first election held in which the residents of an 
area included in a municipal annexation plan are entitled to vote, 
the municipality shall publish notice in the form of a quarter-page 
advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation in the 
municipality notifying the residents that they are eligible to vote 
in the election and stating the location of all polling places for 
the residents.
	SECTION 2.  A resident of an area included in a municipal 
annexation plan is entitled to vote as provided by Section 43.0525, 
Local Government Code, as added by this Act, in a municipal election 
ordered after the effective date of this Act, regardless of when the 
area was included in the municipal annexation plan.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect on the date on which the 
constitutional amendment proposed by H.J.R. No. 36, 78th 
Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, takes effect.  If that 
amendment is not approved by the voters, this Act has no effect.