SRC-JBJ H.B. 1140 76(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   H.B. 1140
76R1742 PAM-FBy: Thompson (Armbrister)
Criminal Justice
5/12/1999
Engrossed


DIGEST 

Currently, clerks must send a certified copy of each felony judgment of
conviction to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and an
abstract of the final felony conviction to the voter registrar in the
felon's county of residence.  This is a duplication of reporting
requirements performed by TDCJ, as TDCJ is also required to send felony
information to voter registrars of Texas.  An additional duplication is
that some district clerks enter felony conviction data into their local
jury pool and voter registration system, and report this information to the
Department of Public Safety (DPS), which stores the information in a
statewide data bank.  H.B. 1140 would require the DPS, rather than certain
clerks, to send an abstract of felony judgment to the voter registrar. 

PURPOSE

As proposed, H.B. 1140 amends regulations regarding a voter registration
notice on a person convicted of a felony. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 16.003, Election Code, to require the Department
of Public Safety (DPS), rather than certain clerks,  to prepare an abstract
of information received under Chapter 60, Code of Criminal Procedure, and
to file each abstract with the voter registrar of the person's county of
residence within a reasonable period.  Deletes text requiring the filing to
be within a certain time frame.  
SECTION 2.Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.Emergency clause.