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                                  * * * * *