HBA-MPM H.B. 3204 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3204 By: Danburg Public Education 4/8/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Article 2774b, V.T.C.S. governs the election of members of the board of trustees (board) in an independent school district (district) with 140,000 or more students in a city with a population of 1,590,000 or more. Presently, this statute applies only to the Houston Independent School District. H.B. 3204 authorizes a district covered under this statute to count write-in votes and require the declaration of write-in candidates in accordance with Section 11.056 (Write-In Voting), Education Code, or other laws applicable to districts. This bill also modifies Article 2774b, V.T.C.S., to require that a person's written notice of candidacy for the board of a district covered by the statute be accompanied by a filing fee or a petition signed by a prescribed number of qualified voters. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 3, Article 2774b, V.T.C.S. (Chapter 339, Special Laws, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1951), by adding Subsection (d), as follows: (d) Authorizes a school district to count write-in votes and require the declaration of write-in candidates in the manner provided by Section 11.056 (Write-in Voting), Education Code, or other general laws applicable to districts. SECTION 2. Amends Section 4, Article 2774b, V.T.C.S. (Chapter 339, Special Laws, Acts of the 52nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1951), as follows: (a) Provides that no person who does not file a filing fee or petition as provided in Subsections (b) and (c) of this section, in addition to written notice and request announcing the person's candidacy for a position on the board of trustees of a school district, within a certain time shall be entitled to have the person's name printed on the ballot to be used at an election. (b) Provides that except as provided in Subsection (c), the written notice must be accompanied by a filing fee and must be in the form of cash or cashier's check or certified check or a money order made payable to the district in the amount of the greater of $500 or the filing fee for a candidate for election to the house of representatives. (c) Authorizes a candidate to submit with the written notice a petition signed by qualified voters of at least one-half of one percent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election in the district. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.