83R4791 SCL-D
By: Harper-Brown H.J.R. No. 145
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment providing for the election of
all county commissioners if the boundaries of commissioners
precincts change following a federal decennial census.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 18, Article V, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsections (b) and (d) and adding Subsection
(d-1) to read as follows:
(b) Each county shall, in the manner provided for justice of
the peace and constable precincts, be divided into four
commissioners precincts in each of which there shall be elected by
the qualified voters thereof one County Commissioner, who shall
hold his office for four years and until his successor shall be
elected and qualified, except as provided by Subsection (d-1) of
this section. The County Commissioners so chosen, with the County
Judge as presiding officer, shall compose the County Commissioners
Court, which shall exercise such powers and jurisdiction over all
county business, as is conferred by this Constitution and the laws
of the State, or as may be hereafter prescribed.
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (d-1), when [When] the
boundaries of commissioners precincts are changed, each
commissioner in office on the effective date of the change, or
elected to a term of office beginning on or after the effective date
of the change, shall serve in the precinct to which each was elected
or appointed for the entire term to which each was elected or
appointed, even though the change in boundaries places the person's
residence outside the precinct for which he was elected or
appointed.
(d-1) All commissioners shall be elected in a year in which
the boundaries of a county's commissioners precincts are changed
following the release of a federal decennial census. After
election, the commissioners elected shall be divided by lot into
two classes. The seats of the commissioners of the first class shall
be vacated at the expiration of the first two years, and those of
the second class at the expiration of four years, so that one-half
of the commissioners shall be chosen biennially thereafter.
SECTION 2. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 5, 2013.
The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment providing for the
election of all county commissioners if the boundaries of
commissioners precincts change following a federal decennial
census."