SB2001 HFA ELLEM 7-17 #1
Delegate Ellem moves to amend the committee substitute on page 6 at line 24 by striking the entirety of section 4(a) of article 10 of chapter 3 and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

§3-10-4a. Vacancies in the office of United States Senator.
(a) Any vacancy occurring in the office of United States Senator shall be filled by the Governor by appointment. If the unexpired term is for a period of less than two years, the appointment to fill the vacancy is for the unexpired term. If the unexpired term is for a period of two years or longer, the appointment is until a successor to the unexpired term has been elected and qualified in accordance with this section.
(b) A special election to fill an unexpired term in accordance with this section shall be conducted as follows:
(1) If the vacancy occurs one hundred twenty days or more before the next regularly scheduled general election, the Governor shall proclaim a special election to fill the vacancy to be held concurrently with the next regularly scheduled general election.
(2) If the vacancy occurs less than one hundred twenty days before the next regularly scheduled general election, the Governor shall proclaim a special election to fill the vacancy which shall be held within 9 months of the date the vacancy began.
(c) The procedure for nominating candidates to appear on a ballot for a special election to fill a vacancy in accordance with this section shall be as follows:
(1) If the vacancy occurs at least ten days prior to the last day for filing a certificate of announcement in accordance with section seven, article five of this chapter, political party candidates shall be nominated at the next regularly scheduled primary election in accordance with the provisions of article five of this chapter. If the vacancy occurs at any other time where the election to fill the vacancy is required to be held concurrently with the next regularly scheduled general election, a special primary election for the purpose of nominating a candidate for each political party shall be held no sooner than sixty days after the occurrence of the vacancy and no later than sixty days before the next regularly scheduled general election. The period for political party candidates to file a certificate of announcement for a special primary election held in accordance with this section shall be established by the Secretary of State and the length of the filing period shall be no more than fifteen days and no less than five days.
(2) Any political party that is not qualified to nominate candidates at a primary election may nominate candidates in accordance with section twenty-two, article five of this chapter.
(3) Groups of citizens having no party organization may nominate candidates in accordance with section twenty-three, article five of this chapter.
(d) A proclamation of the Governor issued in accordance with this section shall be published prior to the election as a Class II-0 legal advertisement in accordance with article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area for the publication is each county of the state. The proclamation shall be filed with the Secretary of State who shall immediately transmit the document to the clerk of the county commission of each county in which the election is to be held. The clerk of the county commission of each county in which the election is to be held shall cause the document to be published within the county in accordance with this section.
(e) Any special election, which is held under the provisions of this section and occurs concurrently with a general election, shall be a separate election from that concurrent general election.
(f)The provisions of this section apply to any vacancy in the office of United States Senator occurring on or after June 1, 2010.

Adopted
Rejected