HBA-MPM C.S.H.B. 3204 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3204 By: Danburg Public Education 4/19/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) 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. Currently, this statute applies only to the Houston Independent School District. C.S.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. 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 a person who does not file a notice and request, accompanied by a filing fee or petition provided by Subsections (b) and (c) of this section, is not entitled to have the person's name printed on the ballot to be used at an election for a board of trustees for a school district. (b) Provides that except as provided in Subsection (c), the written notice under Subsection (a) must be accompanied by a filing fee for the greater of $500 or the amount of the filing fee for a candidate for state representative under Section 172.024 (Filing Fee), Election Code. Provides that the fee may be paid only in cash or a cashier's check, certified check, or money order made payable to the district. (c) Authorizes a candidate to submit with the written notice a petition signed signed by a number of registered voters equal to at least one-half of one percent of the total number of votes case in the district in the most recent gubernatorial election, instead of the fee under Subsection (b). SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 3204 differs from the original bill in SECTION 1 (Section 3, Article 2774b, V.T.C.S.), by modifying proposed Subsection (d) to delete general laws applicable to independent school districts from those statutes applicable to the manner in which a school district may count write-in votes and declare write-in candidates. The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 2 (Section 4, Article 2774b, V.T.C.S.) to conform to Legislative Council format. It also clarifies, in Subsection (c) that a candidate is authorized to submit a petition instead of the filing fee under Subsection (b). The original bill did not specify that this petition was an option to this filing fee. Makes nonsubstantive changes.