By:  Griggs (Senate Sponsor - Brimer)                             H.B. No. 2043
	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2003; 
May 13, 2003, read first time and referred to Committee on 
Intergovernmental Relations; May 20, 2003, reported favorably by 
the following vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 20, 2003, sent to printer.)


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to the procedures for appointment of the board of 
directors of an appraisal district.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Sections 6.03(j)-(l), Tax Code, are amended to 
read as follows:  
	(j)  Before October 30, the chief appraiser shall prepare a 
ballot, listing the candidates whose names were timely submitted 
under Subsections (g) and, if applicable, (h) or (i) alphabetically 
according to the first letter in each candidate's surname, and 
shall deliver a copy of the ballot to the presiding officer of the 
governing body of each taxing unit that is entitled to vote.
	(k)  The governing body of each taxing unit entitled to vote 
shall determine its vote by resolution and submit it to the chief 
appraiser before December [November] 15.  The chief appraiser shall 
count the votes, declare the five candidates who receive the 
largest cumulative vote totals elected, and submit the results 
before December 31 [1] to the governing body of each taxing unit in 
the district and to the candidates. For purposes of determining the 
number of votes received by the candidates, the candidate receiving 
the most votes of the conservation and reclamation districts is 
considered to have received all of the votes cast by conservation 
and reclamation districts and the other candidates are considered 
not to have received any votes of the conservation and reclamation 
districts. The chief appraiser shall resolve a tie vote by any 
method of chance.
	(l)  If a vacancy occurs on the board of directors other than 
a vacancy in the position held by a county assessor-collector 
serving as a nonvoting director, each taxing unit that is entitled 
to vote by this section may nominate by resolution adopted by its 
governing body a candidate to fill the vacancy.  The unit shall 
submit the name of its nominee to the chief appraiser within 45 [10] 
days after notification from the board of directors of the 
existence of the vacancy, and the chief appraiser shall prepare and 
deliver to the board of directors within the next five days a list 
of the nominees.  The board of directors shall elect by majority 
vote of its members one of the nominees to fill the vacancy.
	SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect immediately if it 
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each 
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate 
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
	(b)  Appraisal district directors shall be appointed as 
provided by Sections 6.03(j) and (k), Tax Code, as amended by this 
Act, beginning with the appointment of appraisal district directors 
in 2003 for terms beginning January 1, 2004.
	(c)  The change in law made by Section 6.03(l), Tax Code, as 
amended by this Act, applies only to a vacancy on the board of 
directors of an appraisal district that occurs on or after the 
effective date of this Act.  A vacancy that occurs on the board of 
directors of an appraisal district before the effective date of 
this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the 
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for 
that purpose.



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