By Dutton                                             H.B. No. 1118
       74R4332 DRH-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to eligibility requirements for voting by persons
    1-3  convicted of a felony.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 11.002, Election Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 11.002.  Qualified Voter.  In this code, "qualified
    1-8  voter" means a person who:
    1-9              (1)  is 18 years of age or older;
   1-10              (2)  is a United States citizen;
   1-11              (3)  has not been determined mentally incompetent by a
   1-12  final judgment of a court;
   1-13              (4)  has not been finally convicted of a felony or, if
   1-14  so convicted, has:
   1-15                    (A)  been issued discharge papers by the pardons
   1-16  and paroles division or institutional division of the Texas
   1-17  Department of Criminal Justice, or by a federal or other state
   1-18  correctional institution or parole board, or completed a period of
   1-19  probation ordered by any court <and at least two years have elapsed
   1-20  from the date of the issuance or completion>; or
   1-21                    (B)  been pardoned or otherwise released from the
   1-22  resulting disability to vote;
   1-23              (5)  is a resident of this state; and
   1-24              (6)  is a registered voter.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  Section 13.001(a), Election Code, is amended to
    2-2  read as follows:
    2-3        (a)  To be eligible for registration as a voter in this
    2-4  state, a person must:
    2-5              (1)  be 18 years of age or older;
    2-6              (2)  be a United States citizen;
    2-7              (3)  not have been determined mentally incompetent by a
    2-8  final judgment of a court;
    2-9              (4)  not have been finally convicted of a felony or, if
   2-10  so convicted, must have:
   2-11                    (A)  been issued discharge papers by the pardons
   2-12  and paroles division or institutional division of the Texas
   2-13  Department of Criminal Justice, or by a federal or other state
   2-14  correctional institution or parole board, or completed a period of
   2-15  probation ordered by any court <and at least two years have elapsed
   2-16  from the date of the issuance or completion>; or
   2-17                    (B)  been pardoned or otherwise released from the
   2-18  resulting disability to vote; and
   2-19              (5)  be a resident of the county in which application
   2-20  for registration is made.
   2-21        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-22        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-24  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-25  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-26  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.