TO:	Honorable Bryan Hughes, Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1589 by Bettencourt (relating to the enforcement of laws relating to elections.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

The bill would amend the Election Code to require the Secretary of State (SOS) to appoint a state election marshal and would authorize certain other election marshals to be assigned by Department of Public Safety (DPS) region.  The election marshals as created by the bill would be given certain powers related to alleged violations of the Election Code.  The bill also contains provisions related to certain election cases and that a judge appointed to serve in these cases must receive periodic training as specified by the SOS. The bill would also authorize the SOS to take certain enforcement actions.

The Office of Court Administration (OCA), assumes costs related to the assignment of judges could be covered within current appropriations and no significant fiscal impact to the state court system is anticipated. The OCA assumes that the cost for training of judges under this bill would be covered by the SOS. 

The SOS anticipates that it would be able to provide the specified election training within existing resources.  According to the the agency, any costs necessary to support the appointment and management of election marshals would be incurred by the DPS.

According to DPS, the bill would have no significant impact on the agency.

According to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and the Texas Ethics Commission, no fiscal impact is anticipated.

Local Government Impact

According to the Texas Association of Counties, no significant impact to counties is anticipated.