79R35 MXM-D
By: Van Arsdale H.B. No. 187
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the right of a resident of a municipal utility district
to vote in a municipal election.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 43.077 to read as follows:
Sec. 43.077. EFFECT OF MUNICIPAL ANNEXATION ON VOTING
RIGHTS. (a) This section applies only to a municipality with a
population of 1.5 million or more.
(b) Following annexation of any part of a municipal utility
district by a municipality, a registered voter of the district is
entitled to vote in an election of the municipality if the person
resides in either:
(1) the part of the district annexed by the
municipality; or
(2) the part of the district that is unincorporated
and is not within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of another
municipality.
(c) A district resident who is entitled to vote under
Subsection (b)(2) is treated as if the person were a resident of the
municipality for purposes of a municipal election.
(d) 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 the territorial unit in which the part of the district
described by Subsection (b)(2) will be included for purposes of
that election.
(e) On or after the 15th day but before the fifth day before
the date of the first election held in which the residents are
entitled to vote under Subsection (b), 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.
(f) This section does not apply to an election to which
Section 3a, Article VI, Texas Constitution, applies.
SECTION 2. A resident of a municipal utility district is
entitled to vote as provided by Section 43.077, Local Government
Code, as added by this Act, in a municipal election ordered after
the effective date of this Act, regardless of when a part of the
district was annexed.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.