85S10285 PAM-D
By: Huberty H.B. No. 207
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to voting by the qualified voters of a water or sewer
district wholly or partly annexed by a municipality.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 43, Local Government Code,
is amended by adding Section 43.0711 to read as follows:
Sec. 43.0711. RIGHT OF VOTER OF WATER OR SEWER DISTRICT TO
VOTE IN CERTAIN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. (a) In this section, "water
or sewer district":
(1) means:
(A) a district or authority created under Article
III, Section 52, Subsections (b)(1) and (2), or under Article XVI,
Section 59, of the Texas Constitution that provides or proposes to
provide, as its principal function, water services or sewer
services or both to household users; or
(B) a municipal utility district operating under
Chapter 54, Water Code; and
(2) does not include a district or authority the
primary function of which is the wholesale distribution of water.
(b) A qualified voter of a water or sewer district, any
portion of which a municipality has annexed for full or limited
purposes, is entitled to vote in municipal elections regarding the
election or recall of members of the governing body of the
municipality, the election or recall of the controller, if the
office of controller is an elective position of the municipality,
and the amendment of the municipal charter, regardless of whether
the municipality has annexed the entire district or whether the
voter resides in an annexed portion of the district. To the extent
of a conflict between this section and another provision of this
code or the Water Code, this section controls. This section does
not apply to:
(1) an area in the water or sewer district that is
outside of the annexing municipality's extraterritorial
jurisdiction; or
(2) an area in the water or sewer district that is in
the overlapping extraterritorial jurisdiction of two or more
municipalities.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
municipal election ordered on or after the effective date of this
Act. A municipal election ordered before the effective date of this
Act is governed by the law in effect when the election was ordered,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
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 December 1, 2017.