By Yost                                                H.B. No. 156
       74R443 DRH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to certain early voting procedures.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 85.005, Election Code, is amended by
    1-5  adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-6        (d)  Subsection (c) does not apply to a county with a
    1-7  population of 100,000 or more but less than 200,000 if the
    1-8  commissioners court by order recorded in its minutes determines
    1-9  that extended hours for early voting are unnecessary.
   1-10        SECTION 2.  Section 85.006, Election Code, is amended by
   1-11  adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
   1-12        (f)  Subsection (e) does not apply to a county with a
   1-13  population of 100,000 or more but less than 200,000 if the
   1-14  commissioners court by order recorded in its minutes determines
   1-15  that extended hours for early voting are unnecessary.
   1-16        SECTION 3.  Section 86.013(e), Election Code, is amended to
   1-17  read as follows:
   1-18        (e)  The following notice must be printed on the reverse side
   1-19  of the official carrier envelope, near the space provided for the
   1-20  voter's signature:  "This envelope must be sealed by the voter
   1-21  before it leaves the voter's hands.  Do not sign this envelope if
   1-22  you have not marked the ballot inside."
   1-23        SECTION 4.  Section 87.121(f), Election Code, is amended to
   1-24  read as follows:
    2-1        (f)  Information on the roster for a person to whom an early
    2-2  voting mail ballot has been sent is not available for public
    2-3  inspection, except to the voter seeking to verify that the
    2-4  information pertaining to him is accurate, until 72 <24> hours
    2-5  after the time a ballot was mailed to the voter.
    2-6        SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-7        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.