City of Levelland, TX ARTICLE VIII

§ I INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM.

(A) The voters shall have power at their option to propose ordinances and resolutions, exclusive of ordinances granting franchises and privileges, and to adopt the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative. A petition meeting the requirements hereinafter provided and requesting the City Council to pass an ordinance or resolution therein set forth shall be termed an initiative and shall be acted upon as hereinafter provided. The term "measure" as used in this Charter shall include the terms "ordinance" and "resolution."

(B) Signatures to initiative petitions need not all be on one paper, but the circulator of each such paper shall make an affidavit that the signatures appended thereto were made in his presence and are genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be. Such petitions shall be signed in ink or indelible pencil and each signer shall place after his name the date when his signature was made and his place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the place. All such petitions pertaining to any one measure shall have written or printed thereon the names and addresses of at least five (5) qualified voters who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and who shall constitute a Committee of the Petitioners for the purposes hereinafter named. All petitions relating to the same measure shall be assembled and filed in the Office of the Secretary as one instrument.

(C) An initiative petition to be sufficient shall be signed by qualified votes equal in number to at least ten per cent (10%) both of those who were qualified voters at the date of the last preceding municipal election, and in no case be less than two hundred (200) voters. Within ten (10) days after the filing of a petition, the Secretary shall ascertain whether it be signed as provided in this Section and shall attach thereto a certificate showing the results of his examination. If, by the City Secretary's certificate, of which notice in writing shall be given to two or more of the Committee of the Petitioners, the petition is shown to be insufficient, it may be amended within ten (10) days of the date of such certificate by filing supplementary petitions with additional signatures. Within ten (10) days after such an amendment, the Secretary shall make examination of the amended petition, and, if his certificate shall show the same still to be insufficient, he shall file the petition in his office and notify each member of the Committee of that fact. The final finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.

(D) If an initiative petition be found sufficient, the Secretary shall so certify and shall submit the measure to the City Council at its next meeting; and the Council shall at once read and refer it to an appropriate committee, which may be a committee of the whole; provision shall be made for a public hearing upon the proposed measure before the committee to which it is referred. Thereafter, the committee shall report the measure to the City Council with its recommendations thereon not later than sixty (60) days after the date upon which such measure was submitted to the City Council by the City Secretary. Upon receiving the measure from the committee, the City Council shall at once proceed to consider it and shall take final action thereon within thirty (30) days from the date of such committee report.

(E) If the City Council shall fail to pass a proposed measure, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition therefor, the committee of the petitioners may require that it may be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters, either in its original form or with any change or addition presented in writing at a public hearing before the committee to which it was referred, or during its consideration by the City Council. If the committee of the petitioners require the submission of the measure to vote of the qualified voters, they shall certify that fact to the Secretary and file in his office a certified copy of the measure in the form in which it is to be submitted, within ten (10) days after final action on such measure by the City Council.

(F) Upon receipt of the certificate and certified copy of the proposed measure, as provided in the foregoing section, the Secretary shall certify the fact to the City Council at its next regular meeting. The proposed measure shall be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters at an election to be held on the next available uniform election date for which the City may meet all statutory deadlines. Any such measure approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon shall be considered adopted and shall take effect at the time indicated therein.

(G) When a measure proposed by initiative petition is passed by the City Council, but not in its original form, and is required by the committees of the petitioners to be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters, the measure as passed by the City Council shall not take effect until after such vote, and, if the measure so submitted be approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting thereon, the measure as passed by the City Council shall be deemed repealed.

(As amended 5/3/2025)

§ II THE REFERENDUM.

(A) The qualified voters shall have power to and option to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance or resolution passed by the City Council or submitted by such Council to a vote of the qualified voters, such power being known as the referendum. Measures submitted to the City Council by initiative petitions and passed by the Council without change, or passed in amended form and not required by the committee of the petitioners to be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters, shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other measures.

(B) No ordinance shall go into effect until thirty (30) days after its passage by the City Council, unless it be declared an emergency measure on the ground of urgent public need for t he preservation of peace, health, safety of property, the facts showing such urgency and need being specifically stated in the ordinance itself and the ordinance being passed by a vote of not less than three-fourths (3/4) of the members of the City Council. No ordinance granting any public utility, franchise, or amending or repealing any measure adopted by the qualified voters at the polls, or adopted by the City Council in compliance with an initiative petition, shall be regarded as an emergency measure.

(C) If, within thirty (30) days after the final passage of a measure by the City Council, a petition signed by qualified voters of the City, equal in number to at least ten per cent (10%) of those who were qualified voters at the date of the last preceding municipal election, and in no case less than two hundred (200) qualified voters, be filed with the City Secretary, requesting that such measures or any part thereof be repealed or submitted to a vote of the qualified voters, it shall not, unless it be an emergency measure, become operative until the steps indicated therein have been taken.

(D) The signatures to a referendum petition may not all be on one paper but the circulator of each separate paper shall make affidavit that the signatures appended thereto were made in his presence and are the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be. Such petitions shall be signed in ink or indelible pencil and each signer whose name appears thereon shall place after his name the date when his signature was made and his place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the place. All such papers pertaining to any one measure shall have written or printed thereon the names and addresses of at least five (5) qualified voters who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose hereinafter named. All such papers relating to the same measure shall be assembled and filed in the Office of the City Secretary as one instrument. A referendum petition need not contain the text of the measure designated therein and of which repeal is sought as a whole, but when the repeal of part of a measure is sought, such part shall be set forth in the measure.

(E) Within ten (10) days after the filing of a referendum petition, the Secretary shall ascertain whether it be signed as provided in Section I (C) of this Article and shall attach to the petition a certificate showing the result of such examination and shall give notice thereof to the committee of the petitioners. If, by the Secretary's certificate, the petition is shown to be insufficient, it may be amended within ten (10) days from the date of such certificate by filing supplementary petition with additional signatures. The Secretary shall, within ten (10) days after such amendment, make like examination of the amended petition and certify the results thereon.

(F) If a referendum petition, or amended petition, be found sufficient, the Secretary shall certify that fact to the City Council at is next regular meeting, and, unless the measure or a part thereof, specified in the petition, be an emergency measure, it shall not go into effect unless approved by the qualified voters as hereinafter provided. Upon receipt of the Secretary's certificate of sufficiency, the City Council shall proceed to reconsider the measure and its final vote upon such reconsideration shall be upon the question, "shall the measure (or a part of the measure) as specified in the referendum petition be repealed?". If upon such reconsideration the measure, or a part thereof, be not repealed, it shall be submitted to the qualified voters at the next available uniform election date for which the City may meet all statutory deadlines after such final vote by the Council. The City Council, by a three-fourths (3/4) vote of its members, may submit the measure to the qualified voters at a special election to be held no sooner than the time aforesaid. If when submitted to the qualified voters any such measure, or part thereof, be not approved by a majority of those voting thereon, it shall be deemed repealed.

(G) Measures proposed by the initiative petition, or required by referendum petition are by the City Council to be submitted to the qualified voters, shall be submitted by ballot title. There shall appear upon the official ballot a ballot title, which may be distinct from the legal title from any such proposed or referred measure, and shall be a clear, concise statement without argument or prejudice, descriptive of the substance of such measure. The ballot title shall be prepared by the committee of the petitioners if for an initiative or referred measure, and by a committee of the City Council when submitted such Council. The ballots used when voting upon any such measure shall have below the ballot title thereof the two propositions, in order herein indicated, "For the measure" and "Against the measure." The voter, by striking out either of these propositions, may indicate his vote for the one not so stricken out. Such ballot shall be in the form, substantially, as follows:

TITLE OF MEASURE

(With general statement of substance thereof)

For Measure

Against Measure

(H) Any number of measures may be voted on at the same election and may be submitted on the same ballot, but the ballot used for voting on measures shall be for that purpose only.

(I) Measures passed as emergency measures shall be subject to referendum, but they shall not be suspended from going into operation while referendum proceedings are pending. If, when submitted, to a vote of the qualified voters, an emergency measure be not approved by a majority of those voting thereon, it shall be considered repealed as regards any further action thereunder, and all rights and privileges conferred by it shall thereafter be null and void; but any such measure so repealed shall be deemed sufficient authority for any payment made or expenses incurred in accordance therewith prior to the vote thereon.

(J) If two or more measures adopted are approved in the same election and conflict in respect to any of their provisions, they shall go into effect in respect to such of their provisions as are not in conflict, and the one receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail insofar as their provisions conflict. Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, measures adopted or approved by the qualified voters shall be subject to amendment or repeal by the City Council as in the case of other measures.

If an initiative petition results in the passage of a measure in an election, then there shall be no further initiative or referendum election called on that subject for a period of two (2) years. If an initiative or referendum measure fails to pass in an election, then there shall be no further election called on that subject for a period of four (4) years.

(As amended 5/3/2025)