88R2349 JRJ-D
 
  By: Schofield H.B. No. 1150
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the form of a constitutional amendment on a ballot.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 274.001, Election Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 274.001.  FORM OF AMENDMENT ON BALLOT. (a) The [If
  the] legislature shall [fails to] prescribe the wording of a [the]
  proposition submitting a proposed constitutional amendment[, the
  secretary of state shall prescribe it]. If the legislature fails to
  prescribe specific wording for a proposition to appear on a ballot,
  the secretary of state must print the entirety of the text of the
  legislative action proposing the amendment on the ballot.
         (b)  The proposition [prescribed by the secretary of state]
  must describe the proposed amendment in plain language [terms] that
  clearly expresses the [express its] scope and character of the
  proposed amendment.
         (c)  The governor shall include the proposition in the form
  prescribed under Subsection (a) in the proclamation ordering the
  election at which the constitutional amendment will be submitted.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies to a
  ballot proposition for a constitutional amendment proposed by the
  legislature on or after the effective date of this Act.  A ballot
  proposition for a constitutional amendment proposed by the
  legislature before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
  law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act,
  and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.