78R8534 MCK-D

By:  Hope                                                         H.B. No. 2461



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to local option elections relating to the sale of 
alcoholic beverages.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 251.10(a), Alcoholic Beverage Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The registrar of voters of the county shall check the 
names of the signers of petitions and the voting precincts in which 
they reside to determine whether the signers of the petition were 
qualified voters of the county, justice precinct, or incorporated 
city or town at the time the petition was issued and shall verify 
that the signatures and petition comply with Chapter 277, Election 
Code.  The registrar shall certify to the commissioners court the 
number of qualified voters signing the petition.
	SECTION 2.  Section 251.11(a), Alcoholic Beverage Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The [Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (c), the] 
commissioners court, at its next regular session after the petition 
is filed, shall order a local option election to be held on the 
issue set out in the petition if the petition is filed with the 
registrar of voters not later than the 90th day [30 days] after the 
date on which it is issued and bears [in the actual handwriting of 
the signers the following:
		[(1)]  the [actual] signatures of a number of qualified 
voters of the political subdivision equal to 20 [35] percent of the 
registered voters in the subdivision in which the petition is 
circulated on the date the petition being circulated is issued[;
		[(2)  a notation showing the residence address of each 
of the signers; and
		[(3)  each signer's voter registration certificate 
number].
	SECTION 3.  Section 277.001, Election Code, is amended to 
read as follows:   
	Sec. 277.001.  APPLICABILITY OF CHAPTER.  This chapter 
applies to a petition authorized or required to be filed under a law 
outside this code in connection with an election[, except a 
petition for a local option election held under the Alcoholic 
Beverage Code].
	SECTION 4.  Sections 251.10(b), 251.11(b), and 251.80, 
Alcoholic Beverage Code, and Section 251.11(c), Alcoholic Beverage 
Code, as added by Chapters 1001 and 1062, Acts of the 77th 
Legislature, Regular Session, 2001, are repealed.
	SECTION 5.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to 
a local option election for which an application for a petition is 
filed on or after the effective date of this Act.  A local option 
election for which an application for a petition is filed before the 
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect 
immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect 
for that purpose.
	SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.