HBA-NRS H.B. 1275 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1275
By: Turner, Bob
Elections
3/27/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law provides that only nonpartisan candidates may run for an office
of the mayor, a school board, a hospital board, and a city council.
Removing partisanship from certain state and county elective offices would
discontinue voting based on party affiliation and may reduce the impact
that campaign contributions have on county and state officer elections.
House Bill 1275 provides for the nonpartisan general election for certain
state and county officers.  

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1275 amends the Election Code to provide that certain state and
county officers are subject to nonpartisan election, including certain
judges, attorneys, sheriffs, and county officers (Sec. 291.001). The bill
prohibits nomination for an office by a political party in a nonpartisan
election for certain state and county officers (Sec. 291.002).  The bill
requires a nonpartisan general election for state and county officers to be
held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in
even-numbered years and requires any non partisan runoff election to be
held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in December following the
general election for state and county officers (Sec. 41.002).  

The bill provides that, to be entitled to a place on the nonpartisan
general election ballot, a candidate must make an application for a place
on the ballot, accompanied by an appropriate filing fee or petition (Sec.
291.021). The bill provides that an application for a place on a
nonpartisan general election ballot must be filed with the secretary of
state, for a district office, or with the county judge, for a county or
precinct office and set forth provisions for deadlines for application
filing (Secs. 291.022 and 291.023).  

The bill recodifies and modifies filing fees for certain state and county
offices. The bill requires a filing fee received by the secretary of state
to be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general revenue
fund and requires a filing fee received by a county judge to be deposited
to the credit of the county general fund (Sec. 291.024).  The bill sets
forth provisions for a petition accompanying an application for a place on
the nonpartisan general election ballot in place of a filing fee (Secs.
291.025 and 291.026). The bill requires the authority with whom an
application is placed to certify in writing the name of each candidate who
files with the authority an application for placement on the nonpartisan
general election ballot and prohibits a candidate's name from being
certified under certain conditions (Sec. 291.027).  

H.B. 1275 prohibits a candidate from withdrawing from the nonpartisan
general election after the 65th day before election day (Sec. 291.052) The
bill provides that the deadline for filing an application for a place on
the nonpartisan general election ballot is extended if a candidate dies,
withdraws, or is declared ineligible on or before the 65th day before
election day and provides that an application for an office sought by a
withdrawn, deceased, or ineligible candidate must be filed not later than 5
p.m. of the 60th day before election day (Sec. 291.053). The bill
prescribes provisions for omitting a candidate's name from a  nonpartisan
general election ballot (Sec. 291.054). The bill requires that if a
candidate who has made an application for a place on the nonpartisan
general election  ballot dies or is declared ineligible after the 65th day
before election day, that candidate's name is required to be placed on the
ballot (291.055). The bill prohibits a candidate from withdrawing from a
nonpartisan runoff after 5 p.m. of the 10th day after the date of the
nonpartisan general election and sets forth provisions relating to a
withdrawal request for a runoff election (Sec. 291.056).  The bill sets
forth provisions governing the conduct of general nonpartisan elections
(Secs.  291.071-291.074). 

The bill provides that the filing fee for a candidate for nomination in the
general primary election is $2,000 for a chief justice or justice of a
court of appeals that serves a court of appeals district in which a county
with a population of more than one million, rather than 850,000, is wholly
or partly situated (Sec. 172.024). The bill sets forth provisions relating
to filing an application, including the filing fee and petition
requirements, for an unexpired term of a vacated office that is elected by
a nonpartisan general election for state and county officers (Sec.
202.008). The bill repeals provisions relating to the drawing for
candidates for county and precinct officers following a primary election,
the certification of nominees for county and precinct offices for placement
on a general election ballot, and provisions for the making of nominations
for county or precinct offices by a political party that does not have a
state executive committee (SECTION 17). 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.