The people of the City of DeSoto reserve the power of direct legislation by initiative, and in the exercise of power, may propose any ordinance not in conflict with this Charter, the State Constitution, or the state laws, except an ordinance appropriating money or authorizing the levy of taxes or an ordinance repealing an ordinance appropriating money or levying taxes. Any initiated ordinance may be submitted to the Council by a petition signed by at least thirty percent (30%) of the number of qualified voters who voted in the last mayoral election.
The people reserve the power to approve or reject at the polls any legislation enacted by a Council. The qualified voters of the City may require that any ordinance enacted by the City Council be submitted to the qualified voters of the City for approval or disapproval no later than thirty (30) days after the effective date of any ordinance which is subject to referendum, by submitting a petition signed by at least thirty percent (30%) of the number of qualified voters who voted in the last mayoral election, filed with the City Secretary requesting that such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the people. When such a petition has been certified as sufficient by the City Secretary, the ordinance shall be suspended from taking effect and shall not later take effect unless a majority of the qualified voters voting on the same shall vote in favor of the ordinance. The power of referendum shall not apply to ordinances levying taxes, appropriating money, authorizing the issuance of bonds, zoning, and any ordinance not the proper subject of referendum by the state constitution or state law.
(Ordinance 2324-23 adopted 7/18/2023)
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed legislation in the form of an ordinance, including a descriptive caption. The signatures to the initiative or referendum need not be all appended to one paper, but each signer shall sign his or her name in the signer’s own handwriting in ink or indelible pencil. The petition must contain in addition to the signature, the signer’s printed name, date of birth, voter’s registration number, residence address and the date of signing. One of the signers of each separate paper petition shall make an affidavit that he, and he only, personally circulated such petition and that signature appended thereto was made in his presence and is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and further that no signature shall have been placed thereon before the one hundred eightieth (180th) day before the petition is filed.
Within ten (10) days after an initiative or referendum petition is filed, the City Secretary shall determine whether the same is signed by the requisite number of qualified voters. The City Secretary shall certify the results thereof to the Council at its next regular meeting. A petition may not be supplemented, modified, or amended on or after the date it is received by the City Secretary except that the petitioner may file one supplementary petition by the original deadline if the original petition contains a number of signatures that exceeds the required minimum number by 10 percent or more and is received by the City Secretary not later than the 10th day before the date of the deadline. The City Secretary shall notify the petitioner as to the sufficiency of the supplemental petition not later than the fifth regular business day after the date of its receipt. If the supplemental petition is found to be insufficient, the City Secretary shall return the petition to the person filing same, without prejudice to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose; provided however, that upon finding the supplemental petition to be insufficient, no new petition covering the same subject matter shall be filed until six (6) months shall have elapsed from the date of filing of the original petition. The City Attorney shall review the petition to determine that it is a proper subject and in proper form. If the petition shall be found to be sufficient, the Secretary shall submit the same to the City Council without delay.
(Ordinance 2324-23 adopted 7/18/2023)
When the Council receives an authorized initiative petition certified by the City Secretary to be sufficient, the Council shall either:
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Pass the initiated ordinance without amendment with thirty (30) days after the date of the certification to the Council; or
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Submit said initiated ordinance without amendment to a vote of the qualified voters of the City on the next uniform election date or other date as allowed by law.
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Submit said initiated ordinance without amendment and an alternative ordinance on the same subject proposed by the Council, to a vote of the qualified voters of the City at a regular or special election to be held on the next state uniform election date.
When the Council receives an authorized referendum petition certified by the City Secretary to be sufficient, the Council shall reconsider the referred ordinance, and if upon such reconsideration such ordinance is not repealed, it shall be submitted to the voters at a special election to be held on the next state uniform election date. Special elections on initiated or referred ordinances shall not be held more frequently than once each six (6) months, and no ordinance on the same subject as an initiated ordinance which has been defeated at any election may be initiated by the voters within two (2) years from the date of such election.
The ballot used in voting upon an initiated or referred ordinance shall state the caption of the ordinance and below the caption shall set forth on separate lines the words: “For the Ordinance” and “Against the Ordinance.”
An initiated ordinance and an alternative ordinance proposed by the Council which are submitted at the same election shall be appropriately identified as the imprinted or referred ordinance and as the ordinance proposed by the Council.
Any number of ordinances may be voted upon at the same election in accordance with the provisions of this Article. An ordinance submitted and receiving an affirmative majority of the votes cast, shall thereupon be effective as an ordinance of the City. An ordinance so adopted may be repealed or amended at any time after the expiration of two (2) years by a four-fifths (4/5) vote of the Council. A referred ordinance which is not approved by a majority of the votes cast shall be deemed thereupon repealed.
The mayor and any Councilmember of this City may be recalled and removed from office by the electors qualified to vote. Before the question of recall of the mayor or a Councilmember shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the City, a petition addressed to the City Council demanding the recall of the Mayor or a Councilmember shall first be filed with the City Secretary, which petition shall name the Mayor or Councilmember whose removal is sought and contain a complete statement of the grounds for which the removal is sought. A separate petition shall be required for the Mayor and each Councilmember whose removal is sought. The petition shall be signed by qualified voters equal in number at least thirty percent (30%) of the number of qualified voters who voted in the last mayoral election, demanding the removal of a member of the City Council. The petition shall be signed in the signer's own handwriting, and contain the signer's printed name, date of birth, voter's registration number, residence address and the date of signing. The petition shall be verified in the manner required by the form prescribed below. Such petition shall contain a statement of the specific acts of misfeasance and/or malfeasance for which the removal is sought, and one of the signers of each petition shall make an affidavit as prescribed below. The following form of petition and acknowledgment is herein prescribed except as otherwise provided by state law:
"By our signatures affixed hereto, we hereby affirm that we seek the recall of __________ who holds the elected office of __________, for the following specific grounds of misfeasance and/or malfeasance as prescribed in Article IV, Section 7 of the Charter of the City of DeSoto:
_____________________________________________________.
And we further affirm that the information given below is true and correct."
Signers: ___________________________________________
Voter Registration Number: ____________________________
Residence Address: _________________________________
Printed Name: _____________________________________
Date of Birth: _____________________________________
Signature: ________________________________________
STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF DALLAS
"BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority, personally appeared __________, who after being duly sworn by me stated, upon his or her oath, that he or she circulated the above petition, that he or she was personally present when each of the above signatures was affixed thereto; and that each person whose signature is affixed thereto affirmed to him or her that the information provided by such person was true and correct.
__________________________________
SWORN AND SUBSCRIBED BEFORE ME this the _____ day of __________, __________.
 
____________________________
Notary Public, State of Texas"
(Ordinance 2324-23 adopted 7/18/2023)
Within fifteen (15) days after the date of the filing of the petition, the person performing the duties of City Secretary shall examine the same and from the list of qualified voters ascertain whether or not said petition is signed by the requisite number of qualified voters. The City Secretary shall attach to said petition a certificate showing the result of such examination. 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 said certificate. The Secretary shall, within ten (10) days after such amendment is filed, in the event one is filed, make like examination of the said amended petition, and if the certificate shall show the petition to be insufficient, it shall not be further amended. If the petition is found to be sufficient, the City Secretary shall within five (5) days or at the next regular City Council meeting, whichever is later, submit it and the certificate declaring the petition to be sufficient to the City Council, and notify the affected Mayor or Councilmember sought to be recalled. The City Council, in the event that the Mayor or Councilmember fails to resign, shall order and set an election to be held on the earliest date allowed by law following the submission of the certified petition to the City Council.
(Ordinance 2324-23 adopted 7/18/2023)
Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following requirements:
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With respect to each person whose removal is sought the question shall be submitted[,] “Shall (Name) be removed from the office of City Council?”
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Immediately below each such question there shall be printed the two following propositions, one above the other, in the order indicated:
 
“For the recall of (Name)”
 
“Against the recall of (Name)”
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be against removal of the individual named on the ballot, such member of the City Council shall continue in office. If a majority of the votes cast at such election be for the removal of the individual named on the ballot, the Council shall immediately declare the individual's office vacant and such vacancy shall be filled in accordance with the provisions of state law and the Charter for the filling of such vacancies. The individual thus removed shall not be a candidate to fill the vacancy created by their removal in an election called to fill the vacancy.
(Ordinance 2324-23 adopted 7/18/2023)
No recall petition shall be filed against the Mayor or any Councilmember any officer of the City within three (3) months after such person's election or appointment to the City Council and qualifying for office, or within six (6) months after an election for such officer's recall, and in no case within 3 months prior to the expiration of such person's term of office.
(Ordinance 2324-23 adopted 7/18/2023)
Any five (5) registered voters may commence initiative, referendum or recall proceedings by first filing with the City Secretary an affidavit stating they will constitute the Petitioner’s Committee and be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in a proper form, stating their names and addresses to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and setting out in full the proposed initiative ordinance, citing in full the ordinance sought to be reconsidered or citing the recall ballot as per Section 9 herein. Promptly after the affidavit of the Petitioner’s Committee is filed, the City Secretary shall issue the appropriate petition blanks to the Petitioner’s Committee. A petition may be withdrawn at any time prior to the fifteenth (15th) day preceding the date scheduled for a vote by filing with the City Secretary a request for withdrawal signed by at least four members of the Petitioner’s Committee. Upon the filing of such request, the petition shall have no further force or effect and all proceedings thereon shall be terminated.