79R5125 HLT-D


By:  Hupp                                                         H.B. No. 3539



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the composition of the board of directors of the 
Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 7, Chapter 519, Acts of the 71st 
Legislature, Regular Session, 1989, is amended to read as follows:
	SECTION 7.  BOARD OF DIRECTORS; ELECTION OF DIRECTORS.  (a)  
The district is governed by a board of five directors to be elected 
according to the commissioners precinct method as provided by this 
section [composed of the county judge and the county commissioners 
of Lampasas County].
	(b)  Directors serve staggered four-year terms [The county 
judge is the chairman of the board of directors].
	(c)  On the uniform election date in November of each 
even-numbered year, the appropriate number of directors shall be 
elected [The county judge and each county commissioner serves as a 
director as an additional duty of service on the commissioners 
court].
	(d)  One director shall be elected by the voters of the 
entire district, and one director shall be elected from each county 
commissioners precinct by the voters of that precinct.
	(e)  Except as provided by Subsection (g) of this section, to 
be eligible to be a candidate for or to serve as director at large, a 
person must be a registered voter in the district.  To be a 
candidate for or to serve as director from a county commissioners 
precinct, a person must be a registered voter of that precinct.
	(f)  A person shall indicate on the application for a place 
on the ballot:
		(1)  the precinct that the person seeks to represent; 
or             
		(2)  that the person seeks to represent the district at 
large.       
	(g)  When the boundaries of the county commissioners 
precincts are redrawn under Section 18, Article V, Texas 
Constitution, a director in office on the effective date of the 
change, or elected or appointed before the effective date of the 
change to a term of office beginning on or after the effective date 
of the change, shall serve the term or the remainder of the term in 
the precinct to which elected or appointed even though the change in 
boundaries places the person's residence outside the precinct for 
which the person was elected or appointed.
	SECTION 2.  (a)  As soon as practicable after the effective 
date of this Act, the Lampasas County Commissioners Court shall 
appoint five temporary directors to the board of directors of the 
Saratoga Underground Water Conservation District.  The temporary 
directors appointed under this section replace the persons serving 
as directors immediately before the effective date of this Act.
	(b)  The commissioners court shall appoint one person to 
represent the district at large and one person from each county 
commissioners precinct.  To be eligible to be appointed as director 
at large, a person must be a registered voter in the district.  To be 
eligible to be appointed from a county commissioners precinct, a 
person must be a registered voter of that precinct.
	(c)  The director appointed to represent the district at 
large and the directors appointed from precincts two and four shall 
serve until the November uniform election date in 2006.  The 
directors appointed from precincts one and three shall serve until 
the November uniform election date in 2008.
	SECTION 3.  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, 2005.