1-1 By: Yarbrough (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen) H.B. No. 1053 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999; 1-3 April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State 1-4 Affairs; May 7, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: 1-5 Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 7, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to requiring a voting system to be accessible by persons 1-9 with physical disabilities. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 122, Election Code, is 1-12 amended by adding Section 122.0011 to read as follows: 1-13 Sec. 122.0011. ACCESS BY PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. A 1-14 voting system that is acquired on or after September 1, 1999, must: 1-15 (1) comply with Section 504 of the federal 1-16 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Section 794) and its 1-17 subsequent amendments and Title II of the federal Americans with 1-18 Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. Section 12131 et seq.) and its 1-19 subsequent amendments; and 1-20 (2) provide a practical and effective means for voters 1-21 with physical disabilities to cast a secret ballot. 1-22 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 1-23 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-28 * * * * *