HOUSE BILL NO. 2893 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE REUTER.
6584H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal sections 115.124, 162.491, 162.492, 162.860, and 162.910, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to school board candidate filing.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 115.124, 162.491, 162.492, 162.860, and 162.910, RSMo, are 2 repealed and five new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 115.124, 3 162.491, 162.492, 162.860, and 162.910, to read as follows: 115.124. 1. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, in a nonpartisan election 2 in any political subdivision or special district including municipal elections in any city, town, 3 or village with two thousand or fewer inhabitants that have adopted a proposal pursuant to 4 subsection 3 of this section but excluding municipal elections in any city, town, or village 5 with more than two thousand inhabitants, if the notice provided for in subsection 5 of section 6 115.127 has been published in at least one newspaper of general circulation as defined in 7 section 493.050 in the district, and if the number of candidates for each office in a particular 8 political subdivision, special district, or municipality is equal to the number of positions for 9 each office within the political subdivision, special district, or municipality to be filled by the 10 election and no ballot measure is placed on the ballot such that a particular political 11 subdivision will owe no proportional elections costs if an election is not held, no election 12 shall be held, and the candidates shall assume the responsibilities of their offices at the same 13 time and in the same manner as if they had been elected. If no election is held for a particular 14 political subdivision, special district, or municipality as provided in this section, the election 15 authority shall publish a notice containing the names of the candidates that shall assume the 16 responsibilities of office under this section. Such notice shall be published in at least one
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 2893 2
17 newspaper of general circulation as defined in section 493.050 in such political subdivision or 18 district by the first of the month in which the election would have occurred, had it been 19 contested. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, if at any election the 20 number of candidates filing for a particular office exceeds the number of positions to be filled 21 at such election, the election authority shall hold the election as scheduled, even if a sufficient 22 number of candidates withdraw from such contest for that office so that the number of 23 candidates remaining after the filing deadline is equal to the number of positions to be filled. 24 2. (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, the election 25 authority or political subdivision responsible for the oversight of the filing of candidates in 26 any nonpartisan election in any political subdivision or special district shall clearly designate 27 where candidates shall form a line to effectuate such filings and determine the order of such 28 filings; except that, in the case of candidates who file a declaration of candidacy with the 29 election authority or political subdivision prior to 5:00 p.m. on the first day for filing, the 30 election authority or political subdivision may determine by random drawing the order in 31 which such candidates' names shall appear on the ballot. If a drawing is conducted pursuant 32 to this subsection, it shall be conducted so that each candidate, or candidate's representative if 33 the candidate filed under subsection 2 of section 115.355, may draw a number at random at 34 the time of filing. If such drawing is conducted, the election authority or political subdivision 35 shall record the number drawn with the candidate's declaration of candidacy. If such drawing 36 is conducted, the names of candidates filing on the first day of filing for each office on each 37 ballot shall be listed in ascending order of the numbers so drawn. 38 (2) For elections in a school district wholly located within one county, the 39 election authority of the county in which the school district is located and in which a 40 school district candidate resides shall be the only filing location for such candidate. 41 Such election authority shall designate the order and process for any drawing of 42 candidate names as provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection. 43 3. The governing body of any city, town, or village with two thousand or fewer 44 inhabitants may submit to the voters at any available election, a question to adopt the 45 provisions of subsection 1 of this section for municipal elections. If a majority of the votes 46 cast by the qualified voters voting thereon are in favor of the question, then the city, town, or 47 village shall conduct nonpartisan municipal elections as provided in subsection 1 of this 48 section for all nonpartisan elections remaining in the year in which the proposal was adopted 49 and for the six calendar years immediately following such approval. At the end of such six- 50 year period, each such city, town, or village shall be prohibited from conducting such 51 elections in such a manner unless such a question is again adopted by the majority of 52 qualified voters as provided in this subsection. HB 2893 3
162.491. 1. Directors for urban school districts, other than those districts containing 2 the greater part of a city of over one hundred thirty thousand inhabitants, may be nominated 3 by petition to be filed with the secretary of the board or, if the school district is wholly 4 located within one county, filed with the election authority of the county in which such 5 urban school district is located and in which the candidate resides, and signed by a 6 number of voters in the district equal to ten percent of the total number of votes cast for the 7 director receiving the highest number of votes cast at the next preceding biennial election, 8 except as provided in subsection 4 of this section. 9 2. This section shall not be construed as providing the sole method of nominating 10 candidates for the office of school director in urban school districts that do not contain the 11 greater part of a city of over three hundred thousand inhabitants. 12 3. A director for any urban school district containing a city of greater than one 13 hundred thirty thousand inhabitants and less than three hundred thousand inhabitants may be 14 nominated as an independent candidate by filing with the [secretary of the board] election 15 authority of the county in which such urban school district is located and in which the 16 candidate resides a petition signed by five hundred registered voters of such school district. 17 4. In any urban school district located in a county of the first classification with more 18 than eighty-three thousand but fewer than ninety-two thousand inhabitants and with a home 19 rule city with more than seventy-six thousand but fewer than ninety-one thousand inhabitants 20 as the county seat, a candidate for director shall file a declaration of candidacy with the 21 [secretary of the board] election authority of the county in which such urban school 22 district is located and in which the candidate resides and shall not be required to submit a 23 petition. 24 5. No candidate for election as a school board director representing a subdistrict as 25 provided in section 162.563 shall be required to file a declaration of candidacy as provided in 26 this section as the sole method of filing for candidacy. 162.492. 1. In all urban districts containing the greater part of the population of a city 2 which has more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, the election authority of the city in 3 which the greater portion of the school district lies, and of the county if the district includes 4 territory not within the city limits, shall serve ex officio as a redistricting commission. The 5 commission shall on or before November 1, 2018, divide the school district into five 6 subdistricts, all subdistricts being of compact and contiguous territory and as nearly equal in 7 the number of inhabitants as practicable and thereafter the board shall redistrict the district 8 into subdivisions as soon as practicable after each United States decennial census. In 9 establishing the subdistricts each member shall have one vote and a majority vote of the total 10 membership of the commission is required to make effective any action of the commission. HB 2893 4
11 2. School elections for the election of directors shall be held on municipal election 12 days in 2014 and 2016. At the election in 2014, directors shall be elected to hold office until 13 2019 and until their successors are elected and qualified. At the election in 2016, directors 14 shall be elected until 2019 and until their successors are elected and qualified. Beginning in 15 2019, school elections for the election of directors shall be held on the local election date as 16 specified in the charter of a home rule city with more than four hundred thousand inhabitants 17 and located in more than one county. Beginning at the election for school directors in 2019, 18 the number of directors on the board shall be reduced from nine to seven. Two directors shall 19 be at-large directors and five directors shall represent the subdistricts, with one director from 20 each of the subdistricts. At the 2019 election, one of the at-large directors and the directors 21 from subdistricts one, three, and five shall be elected for a two-year term, and the other at- 22 large director and the directors from subdistricts two and four shall be elected for a four-year 23 term. Thereafter, all seven directors shall serve a four-year term. Directors shall serve until 24 the next election and until their successors, then elected, are duly qualified as provided in this 25 section. In addition to other qualifications prescribed by law, each member elected from a 26 subdistrict shall be a resident of the subdistrict from which he or she is elected. The 27 subdistricts shall be numbered from one to five. 28 3. The five candidates, one from each of the subdistricts, who receive a plurality of 29 the votes cast by the voters of that subdistrict and the at-large candidates receiving a plurality 30 of the at-large votes shall be elected. The name of [no] a candidate for nomination shall not 31 be printed on the ballot unless the candidate has at least sixty days prior to the election filed a 32 declaration of candidacy with the secretary of the board of directors or, if the school district 33 is wholly located within one county, filed a declaration of candidacy with the election 34 authority of the city in which such urban school district is located and in which the 35 candidate resides containing the signatures of at least two hundred fifty registered voters 36 who are residents of the subdistrict within which the candidate for nomination to a subdistrict 37 office resides, and in case of at-large candidates the signatures of at least five hundred 38 registered voters. The election authority of the city in which such school district is located 39 and in which the candidate resides shall determine the validity of all signatures on 40 declarations of candidacy. 41 4. In any election either for at-large candidates or candidates elected by the voters of 42 subdistricts, if there are more than two candidates, a majority of the votes are not required to 43 elect but the candidate having a plurality of the votes shall be elected. 44 5. The names of all candidates shall appear upon the ballot without party designation 45 and in the order of the priority of the times of filing their petitions of nomination. No 46 candidate may file both at large and from a subdistrict and the names of all candidates shall 47 appear only once on the ballot, nor may any candidate file more than one declaration of HB 2893 5
48 candidacy. All declarations shall designate the candidate's residence and whether the 49 candidate is filing at large or from a subdistrict and the numerical designation of the 50 subdistrict or at-large area. 51 6. The provisions of all sections relating to seven-director school districts shall also 52 apply to and govern urban districts in cities of more than three hundred thousand inhabitants, 53 to the extent applicable and not in conflict with the provisions of those sections specifically 54 relating to such urban districts. 55 7. Vacancies which occur on the school board shall be filled in the manner provided 56 in section 162.471. 162.860. Candidates for membership on the board of education of a special school 2 district with a population of not more than one hundred thousand persons shall be citizens of 3 the United States and voters of the proposed district who have resided within the state for one 4 year next preceding the election and who are at least twenty-four years of age. All candidates 5 shall file their declarations of candidacy with the secretary of the state board of education or, 6 if the school district is wholly located within one county, with the election authority of 7 the county in which such school district is located and in which the candidate resides. 162.910. At the elections conducted pursuant to section 162.865, the voters of a 2 special district with a population of not more than one hundred thousand persons shall elect, 3 by ballot, two board members to succeed those whose terms have expired and the board 4 members so elected shall hold office for terms of three years and until their successors have 5 been elected and qualified and shall assume the duties of their offices at the first regular 6 meeting of the board of education held after their election. Candidates shall file their 7 declarations of candidacy for office of board member with the secretary of the board of 8 education of the special school district or, if the special school district is wholly located 9 within one county, with the election authority of the county in which such school district 10 is located and in which the candidate resides. A majority of the then qualified members of 11 the board of education of the special school district or the election authority of the county, 12 as applicable, shall certify the candidates receiving the greatest number of votes for terms of 13 three years each and until their successors shall have been elected and qualified, and shall 14 declare and certify the results of the vote cast on any question presented at the election. ✔
Statutes affected: