(a) The voters
shall have power at their option to propose ordinances, which are
legislative in nature and not withdrawn from the initiatory field
by law or judicial decision, 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 therein
set forth shall be termed an initiative petition and shall be acted
upon as hereinafter provided.
(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 petition 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 petition 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 who shall constitute a committee of the petitioners
for the purpose hereinafter named. All petition papers relating to
the same measure shall be assembled and filed in the office of the
city secretary as one instrument.
(c) An initiative
petition to be sufficient shall be signed by qualified and registered
voters equal in number to at least fifty (50) per cent of those who
voted in the last regular municipal election, but in no event shall
such number be less than seven thousand five hundred (7,500). 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 result of the secretary’s
examination. If, by the city secretary’s certificate, of which
notice in writing shall be given to two (2) 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 petition papers. Within ten (10) days after such
an amendment, the secretary shall make examination of the amended
petition; and if the secretary’s certificate shall show the
same still to be insufficient, the secretary shall file the petition
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. Provisions shall be made for
public hearings 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 recommendation 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 a 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 subsection, the secretary shall certify
the fact to the city council at its next regular meeting. If any municipal
election is to be held not more than six (6) months or less than thirty
(30) days after the receipt of the secretary’s certificate by
the city council, the proposed measure shall be submitted to a vote
of the qualified voters at the first such election. When no municipal
election is to be held within the time aforesaid, the city council
may provide for submitting the measure to the voters at a special
election to be held not less than thirty (30) days after the date
when provision is made therefor by the council. When no other provision
is made as to the time of submitting a measure proposed by initiative
petition to the electors, it shall be submitted at the first municipal
election held after the expiration of the period of six (6) months
mentioned in this section. 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 committee 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.
(Char. art. VIII, sec. 1; Ordinance 85-28, sec. 4, adopted 4/9/85)
(a) The qualified
voters shall have power at their option to approve or reject at the
polls any ordinance, legislative in nature and not withdrawn from
the initiatory field by law or judicial decision, 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 petition and passed by the council without
change, or passed in an amended form and not required by the committee
of 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 the preservation of peace, health, safety
or property, the facts showing such urgency being specifically stated
in the ordinance itself or unless necessary for the issuance of bonds
and other obligations or to levy taxes. 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 final passage of a measure by the city council
a petition signed by qualified and registered voters of the city equal
in number to at least fifty (50) per cent of those who voted in the
last regular municipal election, but in no case by less than seven
thousand five hundred (7,500), be filed with the city secretary requesting
that such measures or any part thereof be either repealed or submitted
to a vote of the qualified voters, the measure shall not, unless it
be an emergency measure or a measure that is not legally subject to
referendum, become operative until the steps indicated therein have
been taken.
(d) The signatures
to a referendum petition need 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 shall place after
his name the date when his signature was made and his place of residence
by street 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 purposes 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
petition.
(e) Within
ten (10) days after the filing of a referendum petition the secretary
shall ascertain whether it be signed as provided in section 1(c) [86(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 papers with additional signatures. The secretary shall within
ten (10) days after such amendment make like examination of the amended
petition and certify the result thereof.
(f) If a referendum
petition, or amended petition, be found sufficient, the secretary
shall certify that fact to the city council at its next regular meeting,
and, unless the measure or 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 part of the
measure) as specified in the referendum petition be repealed?”
If upon such reconsideration the measure, or part thereof, be not
repealed, it shall be submitted to the qualified voters at the next
municipal election held not less than thirty (30) days after such
final vote of the city council by a four-fifths vote its members
may submit the measure to the qualified voters at a special election
to be held not 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
or by the city council to be submitted to the qualified voters, shall
be submitted pursuant to the election laws of the State of Texas.
(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 expense incurred
in accordance therewith prior to the vote thereon.
(j) If two
(2) or more measures adopted or approved at the same election conflict
in respect to any of their provisions, they shall go into effect in
respect of 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.
(Char. art. VIII, sec. 2; Ordinance 85-28, sec. 4, adopted 4/9/85; Ordinance 97-19, sec. 2, adopted 5/6/97)