1-1     By:  Jackson, Gray (Senate Sponsor - Brown)            H.B. No. 841

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 1997;

 1-3     May 13, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on State

 1-4     Affairs; May 18, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 13, Nays 0; May 18, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to voting procedures for persons on a space flight.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Subtitle B, Title 7, Election Code, is amended by

1-11     adding Chapter 105 to read as follows:

1-12        CHAPTER 105. VOTING ON ELECTION DAY BY PERSON ON SPACE FLIGHT

1-13           Sec. 105.001.  APPLICABILITY.  This chapter applies only to a

1-14     person who:

1-15                 (1)  is eligible to vote in this state; and

1-16                 (2)  is unable to vote in an election because the

1-17     person is on a space flight, as defined by the secretary of state,

1-18     on  election day and during the early voting period for the

1-19     election.

1-20           Sec. 105.002.  VOTING PERMITTED.   The secretary of state

1-21     shall prescribe procedures for voting from space on election day by

1-22     secure electronic means by persons to whom this chapter applies.

1-23     The procedures may provide for:

1-24                 (1)  a deadline by which a person must apply to vote

1-25     under this chapter; and

1-26                 (2)  the use of the National Aeronautics and Space

1-27     Administration's electronic transmission program to send ballots to

1-28     persons on a space flight.

1-29           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-30           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-31     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-32     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-33     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-34     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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