S.B. No. 2570

AN ACT

relating to the board of directors of the Kenedy County Groundwater Conservation District.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Chapter 1152, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, is amended by adding Section 9A to read as follows:

Sec. 9A. METHOD OF ELECTING DIRECTORS: SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective date of the Act by which this section is enacted into law, the board shall:

(1) divide the district into five single-member districts for electing directors; and

(2) assign each of the existing board positions to one of the new single-member districts.

(b) In dividing the district into single-member districts under Subsection (a) of this section, the board shall:

(1) take into account the existing at-large board position elected by the voters of the Santa Gertrudis Independent School District; and

(2) draw the single-member districts in a manner that retains the existing district lines as closely as possible.

(c) If the district annexes territory, the annexed territory becomes part of one or more of the single-member districts as determined by the board.

(d) One director shall be elected from each single-member district.

(e) To be a candidate for or to serve as a director, a person must be a registered voter in the single-member district the person represents or seeks to represent.

(f) A person shall indicate on the application for a place on the ballot the single-member district the person seeks to represent.

(g) After each federal decennial census or as needed, the board may redraw the single-member districts to reflect population changes. A director in office on the effective date of a change in the boundaries of a single-member district, or a director elected or appointed before the effective date of the change whose term of office begins on or after the effective date of the change, shall serve for the remainder of the director's term in the single-member district to which elected or appointed even though the change in boundaries places the director's residence outside the district to which the director was elected or appointed.

SECTION 2. Chapter 1162, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, is amended by adding Section 8A to read as follows:

Sec. 8A. METHOD OF ELECTING DIRECTORS: SINGLE-MEMBER DISTRICTS. (a) As soon as practicable after the effective date of the Act by which this section is enacted into law, the board shall:

(1) divide the district into five single-member districts for electing directors; and

(2) assign each of the existing board positions to one of the new single-member districts.

(b) In dividing the district into single-member districts under Subsection (a) of this section, the board shall:

(1) take into account the existing at-large board position elected by the voters of the Santa Gertrudis Independent School District; and

(2) draw the single-member districts in a manner that retains the existing district lines as closely as possible.

(c) If the district annexes territory, the annexed territory becomes part of one or more of the single-member districts as determined by the board.

(d) One director shall be elected from each single-member district.

(e) To be a candidate for or to serve as a director, a person must be a registered voter in the single-member district the person represents or seeks to represent.

(f) A person shall indicate on the application for a place on the ballot the single-member district the person seeks to represent.

(g) After each federal decennial census or as needed, the board may redraw the single-member districts to reflect population changes. A director in office on the effective date of a change in the boundaries of a single-member district, or a director elected or appointed before the effective date of the change whose term of office begins on or after the effective date of the change, shall serve for the remainder of the director's term in the single-member district to which elected or appointed even though the change in boundaries places the director's residence outside the district to which the director was elected or appointed.

SECTION 3. The following laws are repealed:

(1) Section 9, Chapter 1152, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003; and

(2) Section 8, Chapter 1162, Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003.

SECTION 4. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies only to a director elected or appointed to serve on the board of directors of the Kenedy County Groundwater Conservation District on or after the effective date of this Act.

(b) The change in law made by this Act does not affect the term of office of a director serving on the board of directors of the Kenedy County Groundwater Conservation District on the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 5. 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, 2009.

______________________________ ______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2570 passed the Senate on May 11, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 29, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________ Secretary of the Senate

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2570 passed the House, with amendment, on May 25, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, one present not voting.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House

Approved:

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Date

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Governor