The electors shall have the power to propose any ordinance except an ordinance appropriating money or authorizing the levy of taxes, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative. Any initiative ordinance may be submitted to the council by a petition signed by a majority of the then qualified electors of the city.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
The electors shall have the power to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance passed by the council or submitted by the council to a vote of the electors, except as provided in Article IV, Section 2 such power being known as the referendum. Ordinances submitted to the council by initiative petition and passed by the council without change shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as the other ordinances. Within twenty (20) days after the enactment by the council of any ordinance which is subject to a referendum, a petition signed by a majority of the then qualified electors of the city requesting that any such ordinance be either repealed or approved shall be submitted to a vote of the electors.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. The signatures to initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one paper. Each signer of any petition paper shall sign their name in ink or indelible pencil and shall indicate after their name their place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the place.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
All petition papers comprising an initiative or referendum petition shall be filed with the city secretary. Within twenty (20) days after a petition is filed, the city secretary shall determine whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified electors, and certify the result thereof to the city council at its next regular meeting. Upon such certification, the ordinance specified in a referendum petition shall not go into effect unless approved by the electors as hereinafter provided.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
When the council receives a certified initiative or referendum petition, it shall proceed at once to consider such petition and take final action thereon not later than sixty (60) days thereafter. If the council fails to pass the ordinance proposed by the initiative petition, or if the council fails to repeal the ordinance specified in the referendum petition, then a proposed or a referred ordinance shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the city at the next uniform election date. Ordinances submitted to a vote in accordance with the initiative and referendum provisions of this Charter shall contain the following propositions: “For the ordinance”; and “Against the ordinance.” Said proposition shall be adopted by a majority vote of the electors voting thereon.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
(1) 
The mayor or any member of the city council may be removed from office by recall. Any elector of the city shall make and file with the city secretary an affidavit containing the name or names of the officer or officers whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds for removal. The city secretary shall thereupon deliver an adequate number of blank copies of the recall petition for use in demanding such removal. The recall petition must be returned and filed with the city secretary within thirty (30) days after the filing of the aforementioned affidavit, and it must be signed by a majority of the then qualified voters of the city.
(2) 
No recall petition shall be filed against the mayor or any city councilperson within six months after the officer takes office or more often than once every six months thereafter.
(3) 
Should the city council fail or refuse to order any election provided in this article, then it shall be the duty of any district judge of Harris County, Texas, upon proper application being made, to order such elections and to enforce the carrying into effect of the provisions of this article.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)
The city secretary shall at once examine the recall petition and if it is found to be sufficient and in compliance with provisions of this Charter, the city secretary shall within five days submit it to the city council with a certificate to that effect and notify the officer or officers sought to be recalled of such action. If each officer whose removal is sought does not resign within five days after such notice, the city council shall thereupon order and fix a date for holding a recall election to be held not less than twenty (20) nor more than thirty (30) days after the petition was presented to the city council. The ballots used at such recall elections shall contain the following questions:
“Shall (name of person) be removed from office (name of office) by recall?”
Immediately following such question there shall be printed the following propositions:
“For the recall of (name of person)”; and
“Against the recall of (name of person).”
If a majority of the votes cast at such recall election are against the recall of the officer, the officer shall continue in office. If a majority of the votes at such election are for the recall of the officer, the officer shall be deemed removed from office and the vacancy filled by the city council as in other vacancies.
(Ordinance 22-934 adopted 5/26/22)