HBA-CMT H.B. 2691 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2691 By: Madden Elections 7/10/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Department of Public Safety (DPS) collects voter registration application information at the time a person applies for a driver's license or ID card. Prior to the 77th Legislature this information was collected electronically and was then printed on a paper card for the applicant's signature. The card was then mailed to the appropriate county voter registrar and processed into an electronic file by the county registrar. The file was used to produce the voter rolls and a voter certificate is mailed to the voter. Maintaining this information electronically may succeed in speeding up the process, minimizing data entry errors, and reducing the possibility of lost applications. House Bill 2691 requires DPS to have voter registration information and signatures for residents of certain counties digitally captured and then transferred in electronic form to the county registrar. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2691 amends the Election Code to provide that if a person who resides in a county of 2.1 million or more completes a voter registration application provided by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) with an application for a drivers license or ID card, DPS is required to input the information provided on the application into DPS's electronic database system and inform the applicant that the electronic signature provided to DPS will be used for submitting the applicant's voter registration application. The bill requires DPS to electronically transfer the applicant's registration data including the applicant's signature to the voter registrar of the county in which the applicant resides no later than the fifth day after the date the person completes a voter registration application and provides an electronic signature. The voter registrar is required to maintain a database approved by the secretary of state for receiving electronically transmitted registration applications. The secretary of state is required to prescribe additional procedures to implement the provisions of the bill. The bill authorizes the office responsible for voter registration in a county with a population greater than 400,000 but less than 2.1 million to request identical treatment of its citizens applying to register to vote if written request is made to DPS by the commissioners court of that county. The bill requires the secretary of state to monitor the implementation of the bill and report the secretary's findings and any recommendations to the legislature no later than December 1, 2002. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.