Bill Text: TX SB466 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to certain petitions filed with home-rule municipalities.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-06 - Referred to Intergovernmental Relations [SB466 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-SB466-Introduced.html

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85R4225 ATP-F
By: Lucio S.B. No. 466

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain petitions filed with home-rule municipalities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 277.004, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 277.004. EFFECT OF CITY CHARTER OR ORDINANCE. This
chapter preempts any [Any] requirements for the validity or
verification of petition signatures [in addition to those
prescribed by this chapter] that are prescribed by a home-rule city
charter provision or a city ordinance [are effective only if the
charter provision or ordinance was in effect September 1, 1985].
SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Chapter 51, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Sections 51.080, 51.081, 51.082, and 51.083 to
read as follows:
Sec. 51.080. TIME TO FILE PETITION. (a) A petition
regarding an election on the repeal of an order, ordinance, or
resolution must be filed not later than the 90th day after the later
of the date on which the order, ordinance, or resolution:
(1) finally passed; or
(2) was published.
(b) If the secretary of the municipality or other authority
responsible for verifying the signatures determines the petition
contains an insufficient number of valid signatures, the secretary
or other authority shall state all the grounds for invalidating a
signature.
(c) If a petition is invalidated and later refiled, the
secretary of the municipality or other authority responsible for
verifying the signatures may not invalidate a subsequent petition
on grounds that existed but were not raised during the initial
determination of the petition's validity.
(d) This section does not apply to a change in a provision of
the municipal charter.
Sec. 51.081. CONTENT OF PETITION. (a) The secretary of
state shall prescribe a petition form that complies with state law
applicable to the filing of a petition with a municipality in
connection with an election. The petition form must:
(1) require only the provision of information required
under Chapter 277, Election Code; and
(2) allow a petitioner to add the purpose of the
petition to the form.
(b) A municipality shall make the petition form available on
the official website, if any, of the municipality.
(c) The secretary of the municipality or other authority
responsible for verifying the signatures may not invalidate a
petition because the petition did not contain information that the
municipality's petition form under Subsection (a) failed to provide
or to require to be provided.
Sec. 51.082. VALIDITY OF PETITION SIGNATURE. A signature on
a petition filed in connection with an election is valid if the
information provided with the signature as required by Section
277.002, Election Code, and other applicable law legibly provides
enough information to demonstrate that the signer:
(1) is eligible to have signed the petition; and
(2) signed the petition within the time prescribed by
law.
Sec. 51.083. WEBSITE POSTING OF INFORMATION RELATING TO
PETITIONS. A municipality shall conspicuously post on its official
website, if any, information relating to citizen-initiated
petitions. This information must contain a link to the petition
form posted under Section 51.081(b).
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a petition filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A
petition filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect when the petition was filed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.