Bill Text: TX HB4273 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the supervision and administration of municipal management districts.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-25 - Referred to Urban Affairs [HB4273 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB4273-Introduced.html

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86R11092 JXC-D
By: Zedler H.B. No. 4273

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the supervision and administration of municipal
management districts.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 321.013(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The State Auditor shall conduct audits of all
departments, including institutions of higher education, and of
municipal management districts, as specified in the audit plan. At
the direction of the committee, the State Auditor shall conduct an
audit or investigation of any entity receiving funds from the
state.
SECTION 2. Chapter 321, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 321.01335 to read as follows:
Sec. 321.01335. ECONOMY AND EFFICIENCY AUDIT OF MUNICIPAL
MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS. At a reasonable time in advance of an economy
and efficiency audit of a municipal management district requested
under Section 375.0961, Local Government Code, the state auditor
shall provide the board of directors of the district with written
information relating to the procedures for and scope of the audit.
The state auditor shall include in the materials information
describing:
(1) how the appropriate representatives of the
district may participate in the audit planning process; and
(2) how the district may request information or
assistance in preparing for the audit from the state auditor.
SECTION 3. Section 375.061, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 375.061. NUMBER OF DIRECTORS; TERMS. (a) A district
is governed by a board of at least five but not more than 30
directors who serve staggered four-year terms.
(b) Directors may serve successive terms.
SECTION 4. Subchapter D, Chapter 375, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 375.0641 to read as follows:
Sec. 375.0641. ELECTIONS FOR SUCCEEDING BOARD. (a) In all
areas of conflict, the provisions of this section take precedence
over all prior statutory enactments.
(b) An election shall be held on the uniform election date,
provided by Section 41.001, Election Code, in May to elect the
appropriate number of directors.
(c) Except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), directors
are elected at large.
(d) The directors may assign a position number to each
director's office so that the directors may be elected by position.
(e) The directors may provide for the election of all
directors, or a majority of directors, from single-member
districts, which must be geographically described inside the
boundaries of the district in a manner that is equitable for both
the voters of the single-member districts and the voters of the
district generally.
(f) If authorized by the board in the proceedings calling a
director election, the secretary of the board or the secretary's
designee, on receipt of the certification required by Section
2.052(b), Election Code, shall post notice that the election is not
to be held. The notice must be posted, on or before the
commencement of early voting, at each polling place that would have
been used in the election. If the notice is timely posted:
(1) the secretary or designee is not required to:
(A) post or publish notice of the election;
(B) prepare or print ballots and election
materials; or
(C) hold early and regular voting; and
(2) the board shall meet at the earliest practicable
time to declare each unopposed candidate elected to office.
(g) In the event of a failure to elect one or more directors
resulting from the absence of, or failure to vote by, the qualified
voters in an election held by the district, the members of the board
holding the positions not filled at the election, including initial
directors, shall be considered to have been elected and shall serve
an additional term of office.
(h) Sections 49.1045, 49.109, 49.110, 49.111, 49.112, and
49.113, Water Code, apply to an election held under this section.
(i) This section does not apply to the selection of initial
directors.
SECTION 5. Section 375.065, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 375.065. REMOVAL OF DIRECTOR; RECALL ELECTION. (a) The
governing body of the municipality after notice and hearing may
remove a director for misconduct or failure to carry out the
director's duties on petition by a majority of the remaining
directors.
(b) A director may be removed from office through a recall
election initiated by a petition:
(1) signed by the owners of 10 percent or more of the
assessed value of the property in the district based on the most
recent certified county property tax rolls; and
(2) filed with the municipal clerk.
(c) Not later than the 10th day after the date a petition is
filed, the municipal clerk shall review the petition and determine
whether the petition is valid.
(d) If the municipal clerk determines the petition is valid,
the clerk shall attach a certificate to the petition stating that
the petition is valid and submit the petition and certificate to the
board as soon as practicable. If the clerk determines that the
petition is not valid:
(1) the clerk shall attach a certificate to the
petition stating the facts supporting the determination that the
petition is not valid;
(2) the clerk shall notify the person who filed the
petition of the clerk's determination;
(3) the petition may be amended or supplemented and
filed again not later than the 10th day after the date of the
certification under Subdivision (1); and
(4) the clerk shall return the petition to the person
who filed it.
(e) The municipal clerk shall determine the validity of a
petition filed under Subsection (d)(3) in the same manner as the
original filing except that if the clerk determines the petition is
not valid the petition may not be further amended or supplemented
and the recall election is not held.
(f) Unless the director who is the target of the petition
resigns before the sixth day after the date a petition and
certificate are delivered to the board, the board shall order that a
recall election be held on the first uniform election date that
occurs after the date of the order.
(g) The ballot for a recall election shall be printed to
permit voting for or against the proposition: "The removal of (name
of the member of the board) from the board of the (name of
district)."
(h) If less than a majority of the votes received at the
recall election are in favor of removal of the director named on the
ballot, the director remains in office. If a majority of the votes
received are in favor of the removal of the director, the board
shall immediately declare the director's office vacant and the
vacancy shall be filled in the manner provided by Section 375.066. A
director removed by recall may not be appointed to fill the vacancy
and may not be a candidate in any election called to fill the
vacancy.
SECTION 6. Section 375.067(a), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) As soon as practicable after a director is appointed or
elected, the director shall execute a $10,000 bond payable to the
district and conditioned on the faithful performance of the
director's duties.
SECTION 7. Section 375.068, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 375.068. OFFICERS. After directors are appointed or
elected and have qualified by executing a bond and taking the oath,
they shall organize by electing a president, a vice-president, a
secretary, and any other officers the board considers necessary.
SECTION 8. Subchapter E, Chapter 375, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 375.0961 to read as follows:
Sec. 375.0961. AUDIT REVIEW. (a) The executive director of
the commission shall review using the standards and procedures
established under Section 49.195, Water Code, an audit prepared
under Section 375.096(a) if the commission receives a petition
requesting the review signed by the owners of 10 percent or more of
the assessed value of the property in the district based on the most
recent certified county property tax rolls.
(b) Based on the review, the executive director may request
that the state auditor conduct an economy and efficiency audit of a
district under Section 321.01335, Government Code. The state
auditor's participation under this section is subject to approval
by the legislative audit committee for inclusion in the audit plan
under Section 321.013(c), Government Code.
SECTION 9. Section 375.208, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 375.208. COMMISSION APPROVAL. A district must obtain
approval of the commission as provided by Chapter 54, Water Code, if
it issues bonds to provide water, sewage, or drainage facilities.
Except as expressly provided by this section and Section [Sections]
375.062 [and 375.064], a district is not subject to the
jurisdiction of the commission.
SECTION 10. Subchapter L, Chapter 375, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Sections 375.245 and 375.246 to read as
follows:
Sec. 375.245. BALLOT LANGUAGE. The ballot for a bond
election, maintenance tax election, and any other district election
held in a district must be written in plain language designed to be
easily understood by the average person.
Sec. 375.246. ELECTION TO REPEAL INCREASE OF OPERATION AND
MAINTENANCE TAX. (a) Instead of the notice text required by
Section 49.236(a)(3), Water Code, as added by Chapter 335 (S.B.
392), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, a notice
given by the board under Section 49.236(a), Water Code, as added by
Chapter 335 (S.B. 392), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2003, must contain a statement in substantially the
following form:
"NOTICE OF TAXPAYERS' RIGHT TO ROLLBACK ELECTION
"If taxes on the average residence homestead increase,
the qualified voters of the district by petition may
require that an election be held to determine whether
to reduce the operation and maintenance tax rate to the
rollback tax rate under Section 375.246, Local
Government Code."
(b) Section 49.236(d), Water Code, as added by Chapter 335
(S.B. 392), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003,
does not apply to the district.
(c) If the governing body of a district adopts a combined
debt service, operation and maintenance, and contract tax rate that
exceeds the rollback tax rate, the qualified voters of the district
by petition may require that an election be held to determine
whether or not to reduce the tax rate adopted for the current year
to the rollback tax rate in accordance with the procedures provided
by Sections 26.07(b)-(g) and 26.081, Tax Code. For purposes of
Sections 26.07(b)-(g), Tax Code, and this section, the rollback tax
rate is the sum of the following tax rates:
(1) the current year's debt service tax rate;
(2) the current year's contract tax rate; and
(3) the operation and maintenance tax rate that would
impose the same amount as the operation and maintenance tax imposed
by the district in the preceding year on a residence homestead
appraised at the average appraised value of a residence homestead
in the district in that year, disregarding any homestead exemption
available only to disabled persons or persons 65 years of age or
older.
SECTION 11. Section 49.052(h), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(h) This subsection applies only to a district that is
located wholly within the boundaries of a municipality with a
population of more than 1.5 million, that is governed by Chapter
375, Local Government Code, and that is governed by a [an appointed]
board consisting of nine or more members. Notwithstanding
Subsection (f) or (g), a person is considered to have resigned from
serving as a member of the board if the person fails to attend three
consecutive meetings of the board. The remaining board members by
majority vote may waive the resignation under this subsection if
fairness requires that the absences be excused on the basis of
illness or other good cause.
SECTION 12. Section 375.064, Local Government Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 13. (a) This section applies only to:
(1) a municipal management district created by
petition under Chapter 375, Local Government Code, before the
effective date of this Act; or
(2) a special district that has the powers and duties
granted to a municipal management district under Chapter 375, Local
Government Code, created by special law of the legislature before
the effective date of this Act.
(b) In all areas of conflict the provisions of this section
take precedence over all prior statutory enactments.
(c) This Act does not prohibit a person who is an appointed
director of a district serving on the effective date of this Act
from running for election to the board of directors of the district
if the person has the qualifications required for a director.
(d) The terms of appointed directors serving on the
effective date of this Act expire on the date a majority of the
members of the first board of directors elected under Subsection
(e) of this section qualify to serve.
(e) The board of directors of a district for which appointed
directors are serving on the effective date of this Act shall call
an election to elect directors for the district in the manner
required by Section 375.0641, Local Government Code, as added by
this Act, not later than the uniform election date in May of 2021.
SECTION 14. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.