Page images
PDF
EPUB

COURTS-REORGANIZING FORTY-SEVENTH AND CREATING SIXTY-NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.

[blocks in formation]

An Act to reorganize the Forty-seventh Judicial District and to create the Sixty-ninth Judicial District, to fix the time for holding the terms of the district courts in said districts, and to provide for the appointment of a district judge and district attorney in the said Sixty-ninth Judicial District; and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That the Forty-seventh Judicial District shall be composed of the counties of Donley, Randall, Armstrong and Potter, and the terms of the district court shall be held therein each year as follows: In the county of Potter on the second Mondays in January and July, and may continue in session twelve weeks.

In the county of Armstrong on the twelfth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session two weeks. Mondays in January and July and may continue in session three weeks. In the county of Randall on the seventeenth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session four weeks.

SEC. 2. That the Sixty-ninth Judicial District be and is hereby created and shall be composed of the counties of Dallam, Sherman, Moore, Oldham, Hartley, Parmer and Deaf Smith and the terms of the district court shall be held therein, each year as follows:

In the county of Sherman on the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session two weeks.

In the county of Moore on the second Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session two weeks.

In the county of Oldham on the fourth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session two weeks. In the county of Hartley on the sixth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session two weeks. In the county of Dallam on the eighth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session six weeks.

In the County of Parmer on the fourteenth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session two weeks. In the county of Deaf Smith on the sixteenth Mondays after the second Mondays in January and July and may continue in session until the business is disposed of.

SEC. 3. The district judge and district attorney of the Forty-seventh Judicial District, elected and now acting for said district, shall continue to hold their respective offices in said district, as hereby reorganized, until the time for which they have been elected shall expire, and their respective successors are duly elected and qualified.

SEC. 4. Immediately after this Act shall take effect the Governor shall appoint a suitable person as district judge and a suitable person as district attorney of the Sixty-ninth Judicial District, as herein created, who shall hold their respective offices until the next general election. and until their successors are elected and qualified.

SEC. 5. That all process issued or served before this Act takes effect,

including recognizances, appeal bonds, and bail bonds, returnable to the district court of any of the counties of said judicial districts, shall be considered and held returnable to said courts in accordance, with the terms as prescribed by this Act, and all such process is hereby legalized, and all grand and petit jurors drawn and selected under existing laws in any of the counties of said judicial districts shall be considered and held lawfully drawn and selected for the next term of the district courts of their respective counties, held after this Act takes effect, and all such process is hereby legalized and validated, provided, that if any court in any county of either of said districts shall be in session at the time this Act takes effect, such court effected [affected] hereby shall continue in session until the term thereof shall expire under the provisions of existing law, but thereafter the courts in such county shall conform to the requirements of this Act.

SEC. 6. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act be and the same are hereby repealed.

SEC. 7. Whereas, the rapid settlement of the counties mentioned in this Act, and the crowded condition of the dockets of the district courts of the various counties of said judicial districts, and the want of time for disposing of the business of the district courts of said counties, creates an imperative public necessity and an emergency exists that the Constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, therefore said Constitutional rule is suspended and this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage; and it is so enacted.

[NOTE. The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing Act passed the House by the following vote, yeas 91, nays 19; and passed the Senate by a two-thirds vote, yeas 25, nays 2.]

Approved February 13, 1909.

Became a law February 13, 1909.

[Sections 1 and 2 of the foregoing Act were amended by Chapter 30, General Laws Regular Session of the 31st Legislature, which became a law March 5, 1909.]

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS-PUTTING INTO EFFECT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
CHAPTER 12.

S. B. No. 57.]

An Act putting into effect the Constitutional Amendment adopted by the people at the last general election, relating to public schools, by amending Sections 50, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81 and 154, and adding 154a, of Chapter 124 of the Acts of the Regular Session of the 29th Legislature, relating to school districts and school funds, repealing all laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith, and declaring an emergency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That Sections 50, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 154 and 154a of Chapter 124 of the Acts of the Regular Session of the 29th Legislature shall hereafter read as follows:

18

GENERAL LAWS OF TEXAS.

Sec. 50. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners courts of all organized counties, not already subdivided, to subdivide their respective counties into convenient school districts by the first day of September, 1909, and any county hereafter organized shall be so subdivided before the beginning of the next ensuing school year after its organization; provided that no district shall hereafter be created having an area of less than sixteen square miles, and not more than one school for white children and one school for colored children shall be established for each sixteen square miles of territory, or major fraction thereof, within such district, provided, the county commissioners court may reduce the area of any common school district and create such additional school districts as may be necessary for the best interests of the school children; provided, that no school districts shall be reduced to contain less than nine square miles of territory, and no new district shall hereafter be created, having a less area than nine square miles, and provided further, that the area of school districts having an outstanding bonded indebtedness shall never be reduced until after such bonded indebtedness shall have been fully discharged.

The commissioners court shall designate said school districts by numbers; provided, that all school districts in this State heretofore laid out and attempted to be established by the proper officers of any county and heretofore recognized by said county authorities as school districts of said county, are hereby validated in all respects, as though they had been duly and legally established in the first instance.

Sec. 57. The commissioners court of any county in this State shall have power to levy a special tax for the further maintenance of public free schools and the erection within each school district of a schoolhouse or schoolhouses; provided, a majority of the qualified property tax paying voters of the district voting at an election to be held for the purpose shall vote such tax, not to exceed in any year fifty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of the property subject to taxation in such district; provided, that all property assessed for school purposes shall be assessed at the rate of value of property as said property is assessed for State and county purposes.

Sec. 58. Whenever twenty or more, or a majority of the property tax paying voters of a district wish to tax themselves for the purpose of supplementing the State school fund appropriated to said district, they shall make application to the county judge who shall issue an order for an election to be held in said district to determine whether such tax shall be levied. Said application shall designate either the specific rate. of tax to be levied, or a rate of tax not exceeding fifty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of property, and the order of said judge shall state:

1. When said election shall be held.

At what point or points the polls shall be opened.

3. The rate of tax to be voted on; provided, that no election shall be held to determine the levy of a tax exceeding fifty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of property, but the proposition may be for a specific tax rate within this limit or "for a school tax not exceeding

GENERAL LAWS OF TEXAS.

19

fifty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of taxable property in the district."

The county judge shall order the sheriff to give notice of such election by posting three notices in the district for three weeks before the election, and the sheriff shall obey such order. Not more than one such election shall be held in the same scholastic year.

Sec. 59. The county judge shall appoint a presiding officer for each voting place to hold said election, who shall make due return thereof as is required by law for holding a general election; and each person who favors taxation for school purposes shall have written or printed on his ticket, "For School Tax," and each person opposed to such taxation shall have written or printed on his ticket, "Against School Tax." The ballots shall be prepared by the county judge, and the county shall bear the expense of having them printed.

Sec. 60. All polls for school district elections shall be opened at eight o'clock a. m. and shall be closed at six o'clock p. m., and none of the officers holding such election shall be entitled to compensation therefor.

Sec. 61. All persons who are legally qualified voters of this State and of the county of their residence and who are resident property tax payers in said district, shall be entitled to vote in such school district election, and if at such election a majority shall vote for the tax, it shall be declared by the commissioners court to have carried in said district and entered upon the records of said court to have been carried, and in all cases the returning officer shall make a full and complete return, as in other elections, to said court within five days after said election is held, and said return shall be opened and counted at the first meeting of said court and the result declared.

Sec. 65. If the election be to determine whether the tax shall be increased, each voter favoring the increase of the school tax shall have written or printed on his ballet, "For increase of school tax," and each voter opposing such increase shall have written or printed on his ballot, "Against increase of school tax," and if a majority of the votes cast be in favor of increasing the tax, it shall be increased.

Sec. 66. The county commissioners court shall, at the time of levying the taxes for county purposes, also levy upon such school district the rate of tax said district has voted upon itself, or, if the proposition shall have been "for a school tax not exceeding fifty cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of taxable property in the district," the commissioners court shall levy such a rate within that limit as shall have been determined by the board of trustees of said district and the county superintendent, and certified to said court by the county superintendent. It shall be the duty of the tax assessor to assess said tax as other taxes are assessed, and to make an abstract showing the amount of special taxes assessed against each school district in his county, and to furnish the same to the county superintendent, on or before the first day of September of the year for which such taxes are assessed; and the taxes levied upon the real property in said districts shall be a lien thereon, and the same shall be sold for unpaid taxes in the manner and at the time of sales for State and county taxes are assessed and collected. A special tax voted in any district after the levy of county taxes shall be levied at any meeting of the

commissioners court prior to the delivery of the assessment rolls by the assessor. The tax assessor shall assess, and the tax collecor shall collect said district taxes as other taxes. The tax assessor shall receive a commission of of 1 per cent for assessing such tax, and the tax collector a commission of 1-2 of 1 per cent for collecting the same. The tax collector shall pay all such taxes to the county treasurer, and said treasurer shall credit each school district with the amount belonging to it, and pay out the same in accordance with the law.

Sec. 76. When twenty or more, or a majority of the qualified tax paying voters of a school district shall petition the county judge, he shall order an election in the school district from which the petition came, to determine whether or not a majority of the legally qualified property tax paying voters of that district desire the issuance of bonds. as indicated in the petition and the annual levy of a tax sufficient to pay the current interest on said bonds and provide a sinking fund sufficient to pay the principal at maturity. Said election shall be ordered, held, and the returns counted and published as in other school elections in accordance with the laws of this State, and it shall not be necessary to vote upon a specific rate of tax, but the rate shall be determined as provided in section 78 of this Act.

Sec. 77. If after the results of said election are known it shall appear that a majority of the votes therein have been cast in favor of the issuing of school house bonds, the commissioners court of the county in which said school district is located shall issue said bonds on the faith and credit of said school district, which bonds shall bear not more than five per cent interest per annum, and shall run not more than forty years; provided, that when the houses are to be built of wood the time of the bonds herein provided for shall not be more than twenty years. The said bonds shall be examined by the Attorney General of the State of Texas, and registered by the Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas. They shall be sold to the highest bidder and the purchase money shall be placed in the county treasury to the credit of said school district and the money shall be disbursed upon warrants issued by the trustees of said district, approved by the county superintendent, in payment of accounts legally contracted in buying, building, equipping or repairing the school house or school houses for such district, or in the purchase of sites therefor; provided, that the commissioners court may invest the county permanent school fund in such school district school house bonds, and the State Board of Education shall have the right to purchase such bonds on the same conditions as it may purchase other bonds.

Sec. 78. When the commissioners court shall provide for the issuance of such bonds, and each year thereafter so long as the bonds or any of them are outstanding, said court shall levy a tax not to exceed twentyfive cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of taxable property of said school district, sufficient to pay the interest on the bonds and to produce a sinking fund, which, together with the interest thereon when placed at interest, shall be sufficient to pay the principal of said bonds. at maturity. The rate of such tax shall be determined by the trustees of the district and the county superintendent and certified by the county superintendent to the commissioners court; provided, that the rate of

« PreviousContinue »