HBA-CMT C.S.H.B. 2691 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2691
By: Madden
Elections
4/9/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently the Department of Public Safety (DPS) collects voter registration
application information at the time a person applies for a driver's
license.  This information is collected electronically and is then printed
on a paper card for the applicant's signature.  The card is then mailed to
the appropriate county voter registrar and processed into an electronic
file by the county registrar.  The file is 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. C.S.H.B. 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

C.S.H.B. 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, the Department of Public Safety (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 this 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.     

The bill creates a committee to study and report on the implementation of
the provisions of the bill.  The bill provides that the secretary of state,
lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and DPS each
appoint a member to  the study committee.  The bill requires the study
committee to report its findings and recommendations to the legislature no
later than December 1, 2002.  The committee is abolished on September 1,
2003.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.




 COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2691 modifies the original bill by decreasing  the population
requirement for the provisions of the bill from a county of three million
or more to a county of 2.1 million or more.  The substitute removes the
requirement that DPS direct the applicant to provide an electronic
signature for the application in the same manner an electronic signature is
provided for a driver's license, and replaces it with the requirement that
DPS inform the applicant that the applicant's electronic signature provided
to DPS will be used for submitting the applicant's voter registration
application.  The substitute provides for the creation of a committee to
study and report on the implementation of the provisions of the bill.  The
substitute provides that the office responsible for voter registration in a
county with a population greater than 400,000 but less than 2.1 million is
able to request identical treatment for its citizens applying to register
to vote.