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.