Bill Text: TX HB1775 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to the oversight and election of board members for certain emergency services districts.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-21 - Left pending in committee [HB1775 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB1775-Engrossed.html

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88R23344 MCF-D
By: Thompson of Brazoria H.B. No. 1775

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the oversight and election of board members for certain
emergency services districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 775.024(c) and (h), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) If the boards do not make the appointments before the
31st day after the date the boards adopted the joint order:
(1) for a consolidated district to which Section
775.0345, [or] 775.035, or 775.353 does not apply, the
commissioners court shall appoint five commissioners to the board
of the consolidated district; or
(2) for a consolidated district to which Section
775.0345, [or] 775.035, or 775.353 does apply, the board of the
consolidated district is initially composed of the two
commissioners from each existing board who have served the longest
terms.
(h) For a consolidated district to which Section 775.0345,
[or] 775.035, or 775.353 applies, the initial commissioners of the
consolidated district serve until the next available uniform
election date after the date the joint order is adopted and that
allows sufficient time to comply with other requirements of law.
After an election is held under Section 775.0345, [or] 775.035, or
775.353:
(1) the two commissioners who receive the fewest votes
of the elected commissioners serve terms ending on December 31 of
the second year following the year in which the election is held;
and
(2) the remaining elected commissioners serve terms
ending on December 31 of the fourth year following the year in which
the election is held.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 775.034, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 775.034. APPOINTMENT OF BOARD IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS
[DISTRICT] LOCATED WHOLLY IN ONE COUNTY.
SECTION 3. Section 775.034(h), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(h) This section does not apply to a district to which
Section 775.353 applies or to a district located wholly in a county:
(1) with a population of more than three million;
(2) with a population of more than 200,000 that
borders Lake Palestine; or
(3) with a population of less than 200,000 that
borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
SECTION 4. Sections 775.0445(b) and (d), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) This section applies only to a district to which Section
775.353 applies or to a district located wholly in a county:
(1) with a population of more than three million;
(2) with a population of more than 200,000 that
borders Lake Palestine; or
(3) with a population of less than 200,000 that
borders another state and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
(d) A person appointed under this section must be eligible
to serve under Section 775.0345 or 775.353, as applicable.
SECTION 5. Chapter 775, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Subchapter L to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER L. COMMISSIONERS COURT OVERSIGHT AND ELECTION OF BOARD
IN CERTAIN COUNTIES
Sec. 775.351. APPLICABILITY. This subchapter applies only
to a district that is located wholly in one county with a population
of more than 200,000. This subchapter does not apply to a district
described by Section 775.0345(a) or 775.302(a).
Sec. 775.352. CHOICE OF OVERSIGHT OPTION. (a) After a
district is created and initial emergency services commissioners
are appointed under Section 775.034, the commissioners court of the
county in which the district is located shall choose whether:
(1) the board will be elected in the manner provided by
Section 775.353; or
(2) the commissioners court will approve the annual
budget and tax rate of the district in the manner provided by
Section 775.354.
(b) A commissioners court that initially chooses to approve
district budgets and tax rates under Subsection (a)(2) may at any
time instead choose to require that the board of the district be
elected under Subsection (a)(1). A commissioners court that
chooses to require that a district's board be elected under
Subsection (a)(1) may not approve the district's budgets and tax
rates under Subsection (a)(2).
Sec. 775.353. ELECTION OF BOARD. (a) This section applies
only to a district required to have an elected board under Section
775.352.
(b) The governing body of a district consists of a
five-person board of emergency services commissioners elected at
large from the district as prescribed by this section. Emergency
services commissioners serve staggered four-year terms.
(c) To be eligible to be a candidate for emergency services
commissioner, a person must be at least 18 years of age and a
resident of the district.
(d) A candidate for emergency services commissioner on an
initial elected board must give the voter registrar of the county a
sworn notice of the candidate's intention to run for office. The
notice must state the person's name, age, and address and state that
the person is serving notice of intent to run for emergency services
commissioner. On receipt of the notice, the voter registrar of the
county shall have the candidate's name placed on the ballot.
(e) The voter registrar of the county shall appoint an
election judge to certify the results of the election.
(f) After the election is held, the voter registrar or
deputy registrar of the county shall prepare a sworn statement of
the election costs incurred by the county. The statement shall be
given to the newly elected board, which shall order the appropriate
official to reimburse the county for the county's election costs.
(g) The initial emergency services commissioners' terms of
office begin 30 days after canvassing of the election results. The
two commissioners who received the fewest votes serve a term that
expires on January 1 of the third year following the year in which
the election was held. The other emergency services commissioners
serve terms that expire on January 1 of the fifth year following the
year in which the election was held.
(h) After the commissioners court requires the district's
board to be elected under Section 775.352, the county judge shall
order an election to be held in the district to elect the initial
emergency services commissioners on the next November uniform
election date under Section 41.001, Election Code, held in an
even-numbered year. After the initial election, the board shall
hold the general election for the appropriate number of
commissioners in each even-numbered year on the November uniform
election date under Section 41.001, Election Code. An election
under this subsection shall be held jointly with the county under
Chapter 271, Election Code.
(i) Subchapter C, Chapter 146, Election Code, applies to a
write-in candidate for emergency services commissioner under this
section in the same manner it applies to a write-in candidate for a
city office under that subchapter.
Sec. 775.354. BUDGET AND TAX RATE APPROVAL. (a) This
section applies only to a district the annual budget and tax rate of
which are required to be approved by the commissioners court of the
county in which the district is located under Section 775.352.
(b) The commissioners court shall adopt a schedule for the
district to submit to the county for final approval the district's
annual budget, tax rate calculations and notices, and recommended
tax rate.
(c) The schedule must take into account requirements of this
chapter, Chapter 26, Tax Code, and Section 21, Article VIII, Texas
Constitution, applicable to adopting a district tax rate, and must
provide a reasonable amount of time for the commissioners court to
review the submissions required by Subsection (d).
(d) In accordance with the schedule adopted under this
section, the board shall submit to the commissioners court the
district's annual budget, tax rate calculations and notices, and
recommended tax rate.
(e) If a commissioners court does not approve or deny a
budget submitted under this section before the 31st day after the
date the budget is submitted, the commissioners court is considered
to have approved the budget.
(f) If a commissioners court does not approve or deny a tax
rate recommended under this section before the 31st day after the
date the recommended tax rate is submitted, the commissioners court
is considered to have approved the recommended tax rate.
(g) If a commissioners court denies the annual budget
submitted under Subsection (d), the district may not make
expenditures under that budget except for an obligation incurred
before the beginning of the fiscal year for which the budget was
submitted.
(h) If a commissioners court denies the tax rate submitted
under Subsection (d), the district may not impose the tax at a rate
greater than that imposed in the fiscal year preceding the one for
which the tax rate was submitted.
SECTION 6. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, but not later than January 1, 2024, the commissioners
court of a county in which an emergency services district created
before the effective date of this Act and to which Section 775.352,
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies is located
shall choose whether the board of emergency services commissioners
will be elected or the commissioners court will approve the annual
budget and tax rate as required by Section 775.352, Health and
Safety Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 7. This Act does not prohibit a person who is a
member of a board of emergency services commissioners on the
effective date of this Act and who was appointed under Section
775.034, Health and Safety Code, from running for election to the
board if the person has the qualifications required for a member
under Section 775.353, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.