REP. LEMAN FILES ‘TAXPAYER PROTECTION’ BILL

  

State Representative Ben Leman has filed a bill that he says will “prevent unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars” pertaining to the creation of hospital districts.

On Friday, Leman filed House Bill 1618, which would raise current petition signature requirements to create a hospital district.  The bill would amend the Health and Safety Code to say that a petition may be signed by at least 100 registered voters or 3 percent of the territory of the proposed district, whichever is greater.

Leman said in a release that this would ensure that a “reasonable number” of citizens are interested in creating a hospital district before taxpayer dollars are spent on an election.

Currently, before a hospital district located wholly in one county can be created, the county judge of that county must receive a petition signed by at least 100 registered voters of the territory of the proposed district.  If the petition is complete and accurate, a commissioners court would order an election by the people of the proposed district to determine if it will be created and whether or not to authorize the levy of a tax.

Leman said there are some instances that petition signature requirements for decreasing taxes are more difficult to reach than for increasing taxes.  He called this measure a “fair and simple taxpayer protection bill that levels the playing field” by making the petition signature requirements for an election the same for both raising and decreasing taxes.