BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.S.B. 1265 |
By: Nichols |
County Affairs |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Current law requires the commissioners courts of certain counties in which a single-county emergency services district is located to appoint a five-member board of emergency services commissioners to serve as the district's governing body. However, certain county officials believe that the process for choosing such a district's board members should rest upon the people being served within the district. C.S.S.B. 1265 seeks to change the process by which board members of certain emergency services districts are chosen to serve.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.S.B. 1265 amends the Health and Safety Code to exempt an emergency services district located wholly in a county with a population of more than 200,000 that borders Lake Palestine and a district located wholly in a county with a population of less than 200,000 that borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from provisions governing the appointment of the board of emergency services commissioners in a district located wholly in one county with a population of not more than three million. The bill applies to a district located wholly in a county with a population of more than 200,000 that borders Lake Palestine or with a population of less than 200,000 that borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway certain provisions applicable to a district located wholly in a county with a population of more than three million governing the election of a district board, the disqualification of board members, and the filling of vacancies on a board.
C.S.S.B. 1265 establishes that the governing body of an emergency services district located wholly in a county with a population of more than 200,000 that borders Lake Palestine or with a population of less than 200,000 that borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is governed by a five-member board of emergency services commissioners elected from single-member districts with one director elected from each single-member district. The bill requires the commissioners court of the county in which the emergency services district is located to divide the district into five numbered single-member districts as soon as possible after the district is created. The bill requires a person to be at least 18 years of age and a resident of a single-member district in order to be eligible to be a candidate for emergency services commissioner in the single-member district on an initial board in such an emergency services district. The bill requires the five initial emergency services commissioners elected from single-member districts in such an emergency services district to draw lots to determine which two commissioners serve terms that expire on December 31 of the second year following the year in which the election was held and which three commissioners serve terms that expire on December 31 of the fourth year following the year in which the election was held. The bill requires the notice of a candidate's intention to run for emergency services commissioner on an initial board of such an emergency services district in a single-member district to specify the single-member district the person seeks to represent.
C.S.S.B. 1265 transfers from the county clerk to the county voter registrar certain duties relating to the election of a board of emergency services commissioners of an emergency services district located wholly in a county with a population of more than three million, with a population of more than 200,000 that borders Lake Palestine, or with a population of less than 200,000 that borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
C.S.S.B. 1265 provides that the bill does not prohibit a person who is a commissioner on the bill's effective date and who was appointed under provisions governing the appointment of the board in an emergency services district located wholly in one county with a population of not more than three million from running for election to the board if the person has the qualifications required for a member set out in provisions governing the election of the board in certain counties as amended by the bill. The bill requires the county judge of a county that wholly contains an emergency services district and that has a population of more than 200,000 and that borders Lake Palestine, or that has a population of less than 200,000 and that borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and to which provisions governing the appointment of the board in a district located wholly in one county with a population of not more than three million previously applied, to establish an election to elect the initial emergency services commissioners of that district in a statutorily prescribed manner, as amended by the bill, for election of the initial commissioners as if the district had been created on the bill's effective date. The bill establishes that the terms of the members of a board serving on the bill's effective date who were appointed under provisions governing the appointment of the board in a district located wholly in one county with a population of not more than three million before the bill's effective date expire on the date a majority of the initial board members elected under these provisions qualify to serve.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2013.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.S.B. 1265 may differ from the engrossed version in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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