84R6010 DDT-D
By: Dale H.B. No. 3451
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the election of directors of certain electric
cooperatives.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 161, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 161.0721 to read as follows:
Sec. 161.0721. ELECTION OF DIRECTORS IN CERTAIN LARGE
COOPERATIVES. (a) This section applies only to an electric
cooperative with more than 200,000 members that is partially
located in a county with a population of more than one million and
less than 1.5 million.
(b) Directors may be elected only by district. The board
shall establish single-member districts from which the directors
are to be elected. In establishing the districts, the board shall
ensure that directors represent geographic areas in which
approximately equal numbers of members reside.
(c) A member may vote for a director to represent a district
only if the member resides in that district.
(d) To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of
the total number of votes received in the candidate's district.
(e) If no candidate for a particular district receives the
vote necessary to be elected, a runoff election for that office is
required.
(f) A director serves a four-year term.
(g) The first board of directors elected from the districts
established under Subsection (b) may agree to establish a system of
staggered terms by providing that approximately half of that first
board of directors will serve initial terms of two years.
(h) Elections must be held in November of an odd-numbered
year.
SECTION 2. (a) An electric cooperative to which Section
161.0721, Utilities Code, as added by this Act, applies shall
establish single-member districts as required by that section as
soon as practicable, and not later than October 1, 2015.
(b) The electric cooperative shall hold an election as
required by this Act on or before November 30, 2015. At that
election, all board member positions will be up for election. The
terms of all directors serving on the date of the election are
terminated, and the terms of the newly elected directors begin, on
January 31, 2016.
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, 2015.