HBA-CMT H.B. 710 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 710
By: Danburg
Elections
3/27/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, the size of the business reply card used for voter registration
by mail is not large enough to accommodate additional information useful to
voter registrars, such as the previous address of registered voters.
Additionally, elderly people may have difficulty reading the instructions
on the form.  House Bill 710 increases the size of the postcard for voter
registration by mail to the largest size permitted by the United States
Postal Service. 

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 710 amends the Election Code to provide that the officially
prescribed application form for voter registration by mail must be in the
form of the largest size business reply postcard permitted by the United
States Postal Service.  The secretary of state is required to prescribe a
voter registration application form that conforms to these provisions. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

January 1, 2002.