By: Moody (Senate Sponsor - Rodriguez) H.B. No. 3015
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 9, 2013;
May 10, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 20, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 20, 2013, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a recall election for officials of certain general-law
municipalities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 21, Local Government Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER C. REMOVAL OF MEMBER OF GOVERNING BODY OF CERTAIN
GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITIES FOLLOWING ELECTION
Sec. 21.101. REMOVAL BY RECALL ELECTION AUTHORIZED. A
member of the governing body of a general-law municipality with a
population of less than 5,000 located in a county that borders the
United Mexican States and has a population of more than 800,000 may
be removed from office through a recall election initiated by
petition as provided by this subchapter.
Sec. 21.102. PETITION. (a) Before circulating a petition,
a notice of intent to circulate a petition must be filed with the
municipal clerk. A notice of intent to circulate a petition may not
be filed before the 180th day after the date the officer whose
removal is sought:
(1) was elected; or
(2) was subject to an unsuccessful recall election.
(b) After notice is filed under Subsection (a), a petition
may be circulated. Each page of the petition must legibly and
conspicuously:
(1) be titled "Recall Petition";
(2) state that the petition seeks to initiate a recall
election to remove a member of the governing body;
(3) state the full name and title of the member whose
removal is sought; and
(4) state the reasons for seeking removal.
(c) For a signature to be valid, it must:
(1) comply with the requirements of Section 277.002,
Election Code; and
(2) be the signature of a registered voter in the
territory that elected the member whose removal is sought.
(d) At least one signer of the petition must swear before a
notary public or other person authorized to administer oaths that
each signature on the petition was made by the person whose
signature it purports to be, and that oath must be memorialized on
the petition.
(e) A petition is valid if:
(1) the petition complies with the requirements of
Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) of this section and Chapter 277,
Election Code;
(2) the total number of valid signatures on the
petition equals at least 50 percent of the total number of votes
cast in the most recent election of the member whose removal is
sought that was not a runoff election; and
(3) the petition is filed with the municipal clerk not
later than the 30th day after the date of the filing of notice under
Subsection (a).
Sec. 21.103. REVIEW OF PETITION. (a) Not later than the
10th day after the date a petition is filed, the municipal clerk
shall review the petition and determine whether the petition is
valid.
(b) If the municipal clerk determines the petition is valid,
the clerk shall attach a certificate to the petition stating that
the petition is valid and submit the petition and certificate to the
governing body of the municipality as soon as practicable. If the
clerk determines that the petition is not valid:
(1) the clerk shall attach a certificate to the
petition stating the facts supporting the determination that the
petition is not valid;
(2) the clerk shall notify the person who filed the
petition of the clerk's determination;
(3) the petition may be amended or supplemented and
resubmitted not later than the 10th day after the date of the
certification under Subdivision (1); and
(4) the clerk shall return the petition to the person
who filed it.
(c) The municipal clerk shall determine the validity of a
petition resubmitted under Subsection (b)(3) in the same manner as
the original submission except that if the clerk determines the
petition is not valid the petition may not be further amended or
supplemented and the recall election is not held.
Sec. 21.104. ELECTION. (a) Unless the member who is the
target of the petition resigns before the sixth day after the date a
petition and certificate are delivered to the governing body of the
municipality, the governing body shall order that a recall election
be held on the first uniform election date that occurs 78 days after
the date of the order.
(b) The ballot for a recall election shall be printed to
permit voting for or against the proposition: "The removal of (name
of the member of the governing body) from the governing body of
(name of the municipality)".
(c) If less than a majority of the votes received at the
recall election are in favor of removal of the member of the
governing body named on the ballot, the member remains in office.
If a majority of the votes received are in favor of the removal of
the member, the governing body shall immediately declare the
member's office vacant and the vacancy shall be filled in the manner
prescribed by law for filling a vacancy on the governing body. A
member removed by recall may not be appointed to fill the vacancy
and may not be a candidate in any election called to fill the
vacancy.
Sec. 21.105. CLERK. In this subchapter, a municipal clerk
includes a municipal secretary or any other officer of the
municipality who performs the duties of a municipal clerk or
secretary.
SECTION 2. The heading to Subchapter B, Chapter 21, Local
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER B. JUDICIAL REMOVAL OF MEMBER OF GOVERNING BODY OF
GENERAL-LAW MUNICIPALITY
SECTION 3. 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, 2013.
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