79R13922 SGA-D
By: Chavez H.B. No. 3564
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to elections, including the election of directors, in the
El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle J, Title 6, Special District Local Laws
Code, is amended by adding Chapter 9303 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 9303. EL PASO COUNTY WATER
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 1
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 9303.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Board" means the board of directors of the
district.
(2) "District" means the El Paso County Water
Improvement District No. 1.
[Sections 9303.002-9303.050 reserved for expansion]
SUBCHAPTER B. ADMINISTRATIVE AND ELECTION PROVISIONS
Sec. 9303.051. DIRECTORS; TERMS. The district is governed
by a board of five directors. Directors serve staggered four-year
terms, with two or three directors' terms expiring on each
expiration date.
Sec. 9303.052. SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS. (a) The board
shall divide the district into five numbered, single-member
districts for directors' elections held after December 1, 2005.
Each single-member district must be compact and contiguous, and the
districts must contain as nearly as practicable equal populations.
(b) The board shall provide for one director to be elected
from each single-member district.
(c) A director elected from a single-member district
represents the residents of that single-member district.
Sec. 9303.053. DIRECTOR QUALIFICATIONS. (a) Except as
provided by Section 9303.056, to be eligible to be a candidate for
or to serve as a director, a person must be:
(1) a registered voter in the single-member district
the person represents or seeks to represent; or
(2) a registered voter of this state who owns land
subject to taxation in the single-member district the person
represents or seeks to represent.
(b) A person is ineligible to be a candidate for or to serve
as a director of the district if the person is employed as the
general manager of the district and the person's annual
compensation as general manager exceeds $50,000.
Sec. 9303.054. APPLICATION TO GET ON BALLOT. (a) A
candidate for the office of director or other elective office may
file an application with the secretary of the board to have the
candidate's name printed on the election ballot.
(b) A candidate for director shall indicate on the
application the single-member district the candidate seeks to
represent.
(c) The application must be signed by the applicant or by at
least 10 qualified voters of the district and must be filed not
later than 5 p.m. of the 45th day before the date of the election.
(d) Only a candidate for whom an application is filed under
this section may have the candidate's name printed on the ballot.
This section, however, does not prevent write-in votes.
Sec. 9303.055. REVISIONS TO SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS. (a)
The board may revise the single-member districts as necessary or
appropriate.
(b) The board shall revise each single-member district
after each federal decennial census to reflect population changes.
Sec. 9303.056. EFFECT OF BOUNDARY CHANGES ON DIRECTORS.
When the boundaries of the single-member districts are redrawn, 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 single-member
district to which elected or appointed even though the change in
boundaries places the director's residence or land outside the
single-member district the director was elected or appointed to
represent.
Sec. 9303.057. VOTER ELIGIBILITY. (a) To be eligible to
vote in a district election, a person must:
(1) be eligible to vote under Section 11.001, Election
Code; or
(2) be a qualified voter as defined by Section 11.002,
Election Code, on the day of the election and own land in the
territory covered by the election for the office or measure on which
the person desires to vote.
(b) For purposes of eligibility to vote under Subsection
(a)(2), if a person owns land in more than one single-member
district, the person may vote only in the single-member district
containing the largest amount of land owned by the person.
SECTION 2. (a) The board of directors of the El Paso County
Water Improvement District No. 1 shall divide the district into
single-member districts as required by this Act not later than
December 1, 2005.
(b) At the first regularly scheduled election of directors
held after December 1, 2005, for the El Paso County Water
Improvement District No. 1, five directors shall be elected, one
from each single-member district. The newly elected directors
shall draw lots to determine which two directors serve terms of two
years and which three directors serve terms of four years. At
subsequent elections, the appropriate number of directors shall be
elected to serve four-year terms.
(c) The terms of the directors of the El Paso County Water
Improvement District No. 1 serving on the date of the election
described by Subsection (b) of this section expire on the date on
which a majority of the directors elected in that election qualify
to serve.
SECTION 3. The changes in laws affecting eligibility for
service as a director made by this Act apply only to a person
elected director or appointed to fill a vacant position as director
of the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1 on or after
the first regularly scheduled election of directors held after
December 1, 2005. A person elected or appointed director before the
first regularly scheduled election of directors held after December
1, 2005, is governed by the law in effect at the time of the election
or appointment, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 4. (a) The legal notice of the intention to
introduce this Act, setting forth the general substance of this
Act, has been published as provided by law, and the notice and a
copy of this Act have been furnished to all persons, agencies,
officials, or entities to which they are required to be furnished
under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, and Chapter 313,
Government Code.
(b) The governor, one of the required recipients, has
submitted the notice and Act to the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality.
(c) The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has filed
its recommendations relating to this Act with the governor, the
lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of
representatives within the required time.
(d) All requirements of the constitution and laws of this
state and the rules and procedures of the legislature with respect
to the notice, introduction, and passage of this Act are fulfilled
and accomplished.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.