75R11198 DRH-D                           

         By Jackson, Gray                                       H.B. No. 841

         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 841:

         By Madden                                          C.S.H.B. No. 841

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to voting procedures for persons on a space flight.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subtitle B, Title 7, Election Code, is amended by

 1-5     adding Chapter 105 to read as follows:

 1-6        CHAPTER 105. VOTING ON ELECTION DAY BY PERSON ON SPACE FLIGHT

 1-7           Sec. 105.001.  APPLICABILITY.  This chapter applies only to a

 1-8     person who:

 1-9                 (1)  is eligible to vote in this state; and

1-10                 (2)  is unable to vote in an election because the

1-11     person is on a space flight, as defined by the secretary of state,

1-12     on  election day and during the early voting period for the

1-13     election.

1-14           Sec. 105.002.  VOTING PERMITTED.   The secretary of state

1-15     shall prescribe procedures for voting from space on election day by

1-16     secure electronic means by persons to whom this chapter applies.

1-17     The procedures may provide for:

1-18                 (1)  a deadline by which a person must apply to vote

1-19     under this chapter; and

1-20                 (2)  the use of the National Aeronautics and Space

1-21     Administration's electronic transmission program to send ballots to

1-22     persons on a space flight.

1-23           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.