HBA-CMT, MPM H.B. 440 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 440 By: Madden State, Federal & International Relations 2/23/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The 74th Legislature authorized a political subdivision other than a county (governmental entity) to cancel an election if no contested races and no propositions were to appear on the ballot. It was later discovered that this legislation failed to cover all governmental entities. The 75th Legislature adopted legislation to include hospital districts, junior college districts and navigation boards, thereby enabling them to take advantage of the same election cancellation law as other entities. Once again, after this action was taken it was discovered that some governmental bodies were not covered within the legislation adopted in previous sessions, namely library districts. House Bill 440 further extends the election cancellation law to library districts. 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 440 amends the Local Government Code to provide that write-in votes for the board of trustees of a library district may be counted only for names appearing on a list of write-in candidates in the manner that the Election Code provides for counting write-in votes in a general election for city officers. The bill also provides that current provisions governing the election of an unopposed candidate for office in a political subdivision apply to the election of an unopposed candidate for the office of trustee of a library district. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.