BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1980

By: Dorazio

Elections

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Older Texans who surrender their driver's licenses and receive personal identification certificates do not always make the necessary updates to their voter registration. Thus, when they attempt to vote by mail their carrier envelope is rejected as having a carrier defect because their new identification number does not match the previous information on file. C.S.H.B. 1980 seeks to ensure that these Texans are informed that their voter registration will need to be updated and are provided an opportunity to do so at the time of applying for the personal identification certificate.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1980 amends the Transportation Code to require the procedures adopted by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for the issuance of a personal identification certificate to a person who surrenders their driver's license at the time of application to require that the person issued a personal identification certificate be notified that the person's voter registration information will need to be updated to include the identification number of the newly issued certificate and be provided an opportunity at the time of applying for the certificate to update their voter registration information to include that identification number.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1980 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced included provisions requiring that an applicable person be provided a voter registration form at the time of applying for the certificate and establishing procedures for DPS if a person completes the form at the time of applying, the substitute does not. The substitute includes instead a requirement that the person be notified that their voter registration information will need to be updated to include the identification number of the newly issued certificate and be provided an opportunity to update their voter registration information at the time of applying for the certificate to include the identification number of the newly issued certificate.