By: Kacal, Ashby (Senate Sponsor - Paxton) H.B. No. 3046
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 2023;
May 10, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 19, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 19, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the omission of a deceased candidate from the ballot in
certain elections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 145.096(a), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or Section
145.098(b) or (d), a candidate's name shall be placed on the ballot
if the candidate:
(1) dies on or after the second day before the deadline
for filing the candidate's application for a place on the ballot;
(2) is declared ineligible after 5 p.m. of the fifth
day after the deadline for filing the candidate's application for a
place on the ballot, in an election subject to Section 145.092(a);
(3) is declared ineligible after 5 p.m. of the 57th day
before election day, in an election subject to Section 145.092(b);
or
(4) is declared ineligible after 5 p.m. of the 71st day
before election day, in an election subject to Section 145.092(f).
SECTION 2. Section 145.098, Election Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:
(c) If the deadline for filing an application for a place on
the ballot is extended under Subsection (b), the authority
responsible for preparing the ballot shall:
(1) prepare a notice identifying the name of the
deceased candidate, the office sought by the candidate, and the
date of the new filing deadline; and
(2) publish the notice prepared under Subdivision (1):
(A) on the Internet website maintained by the
political subdivision holding the election; or
(B) if the political subdivision does not
maintain an Internet website, on the bulletin board used for
posting notice of meetings of the governing body of the political
subdivision.
(d) If a candidate for an office of a city with a population
of 100,000 or less dies before the ballots are printed, the
authority responsible for preparing the ballots may choose to omit
the candidate from the ballot.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an election ordered on or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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