Sec. 31.044. DIVISION OF CERTAIN DUTIES BETWEEN COUNTY CLERK AND ADMINISTRATOR. (a) With respect to meetings of the commissioners court, including meetings at which the only business conducted pertains to elections, the county clerk shall perform the clerk's regularly prescribed duties in giving notice of and preparing the agenda for the meetings, attending the meetings and making a record of the proceedings, preparing and maintaining the minutes of the court, and filing and preserving copies of the court's orders, except as provided by Subsection (b). The county elections administrator shall cooperate with the county clerk in supplying information on election matters that are to be brought before the court and shall attend or be represented at the meetings of the court at which election matters are considered. The county clerk shall furnish the administrator with a copy of each order of the court that pertains to or affects an election, and the administrator shall maintain the copies on file.

(b) The administrator is responsible for providing the clerical assistance needed by the commissioners court in canvassing precinct election returns. The administrator shall maintain the official file of the court's tabulation of election results, and the county clerk need not maintain a file of copies of the tabulations.

(c) In an election on a measure in which the commissioners court is the final canvassing authority, if a statute requires the county clerk to record an order of the court in its minutes declaring whether the measure carried or failed, the county clerk shall perform that duty. A copy of the order shall also be filed in the office of the administrator. If a statute requires the county clerk to certify the result of the election to some other authority, the clerk shall perform that duty.

(d) If a statute provides for the ordering of an election on a measure by the commissioners court, the county judge, or another county authority on submission of a petition requesting the election, the administrator shall perform the duties that the statute places on the county clerk in connection with filing the petition, determining its validity, and any other matters preceding the ordering of the election.

(e) If a statute prescribing the procedure for creating a political subdivision provides for the ordering of an election by a county authority as a step in the creation process, the administrator shall perform the duties that the statute places on the county clerk in connection with matters preceding the entry of the order on whether the election will be ordered, including the filing of a petition for the creation, the holding of any hearing on the proposal, the filing of any report or other document that is a step in the procedure, and the taking of any appeal from the order on whether the election is to be ordered. If the holding of an election ordered by a county authority is not one of the steps in the creation process, the county clerk shall perform the duties placed on that officer in connection with the creation of a political subdivision.

(f) If a statute provides that the return of an election notice for an election ordered by a county authority is to be recorded in the minutes of the commissioners court, the return shall be filed in the office of the administrator.

(g) The county clerk is the proper officer to receive and post copies of proposed constitutional amendments under Article XVII, Section 1, of the Texas Constitution. However, the secretary of state shall also send a copy of each proposed amendment to the administrator for the administrator's information.

Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 211, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1986. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 864, Sec. 18, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.