By: Bettencourt S.B. No. 1539
(In the Senate - Filed February 21, 2025; March 6, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
March 17, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 11,
Nays 0; March 17, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requirements and procedures in the contest of an
election on a proposed constitutional amendment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 233.014(c) and (f), Election Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(c) The filing of an election contest does not suspend
implementation of a constitutional amendment that was approved by
the majority of the votes cast [The declaration of the official
result of a contested election may not be made until the contest is
finally determined. The secretary of state shall tabulate the
county returns and the governor shall announce the final vote
count, as ascertained from the returns, in a written document. The
document announcing the final vote count must state that a contest
of the election has been filed and that the declaration of the
official result will not be made until the contest is finally
determined].
(f) The court shall include in its judgment in a contest an
order directing the governor to declare the [official result of the
election or to declare the] election valid or void, as appropriate,
not later than the 10th day after the date the judgment becomes
final.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply to a
contest of a constitutional amendment election filed on or after
the effective date of this Act. A contest of a constitutional
amendment election filed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date that the suit is filed, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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