By: Paul, Miller of Fort Bend H.B. No. 3456
(Senate Sponsor - Estes)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 18, 2015;
May 18, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 22, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the composition of a district executive committee of a
political party.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 171.054, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 171.054. COMMITTEE COMPOSITION: DISTRICT SITUATED IN
MORE THAN ONE COUNTY; FIRST MEETING. (a) The district executive
committee for a district situated in more than one county consists
of the members of each county executive committee who reside in the
district [:
[(1) the county chair of each county that is wholly
situated in the district; and
[(2) one precinct chair from each county that is only
partly situated in the district, elected by and from among the
precinct chairs of the precincts in that part of the county].
(b) The [Except as provided by Subsection (c), the] state
[county] chair shall call a meeting of the district executive
committee to convene either as a whole in one location or separately
in each county in the district at any time after the precinct chairs
take office to fill a vacancy in a nomination or to transact any
other business by the committee [elect the precinct chair who is to
serve on a district executive committee]. The state [county] chair
shall notify the members of the district executive committee
[appropriate precinct chairs] in advance of the [meeting of its]
time, place, and purpose of any meeting or meetings. [Not later
than the third day after the date the district executive committee
member is elected, the county chair shall deliver to the state chair
written notice of the name and address of the person elected.]
(c) If a vacancy exists in the office of senatorial district
[precinct] chair for a county [on a senatorial district executive
committee] immediately before the date for conducting the regular
drawing for a place on the general primary ballot, the appropriate
county executive committee members [precinct chairs] shall convene
on that date at the hour and place specified by the county chair to
elect that officer.
(d) If the district executive committee is meeting as a
whole in one location, the [The] members of the [a district
executive] committee shall elect a chair at the committee's first
meeting from among the committee membership. If the district
executive committee is meeting separately in each county, the
members meeting in each county shall elect a chair at the
committee's first meeting from among the committee membership in
that county.
(e) For the purposes of filling a vacancy in a nomination,
the [The] state chair shall canvass the votes of the district
executive committee when meeting separately in each county and make
the certification required by Section 145.037 [call the first
meeting of the district executive committee and shall notify each
committee member in advance of the meeting of its time, place, and
purpose].
(f) The state executive committee shall by rule determine
the quorum requirements for a district executive committee to
conduct business.
(g) The state executive committee may by rule require a
specific deadline for filling vacancies on a district executive
committee prior to that committee filling a vacancy in nomination
for public office, but may not set the deadline for a date later
than the date that the vacancy in nomination for public office must
be filled. A rule adopted under this subsection may also include a
requirement that a county executive committee publicly post on the
committee's website the names and addresses of district executive
committee members as of the deadline specified in the rule.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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