1-1     By:  Danburg, Uresti (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh)     H.B. No. 1545
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 1999;
 1-3     May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on State
 1-4     Affairs; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:
 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to accessibility standards at polling places and precinct
 1-9     convention places for the elderly and persons with physical
1-10     disabilities.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  The heading of Section 43.034, Election Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 43.034.  ACCESSIBILITY OF POLLING PLACE TO THE ELDERLY
1-15     AND PERSONS WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES [PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED].
1-16           SECTION 2.  Section 43.034(a), Election Code, is amended to
1-17     read as follows:
1-18           (a)  Each polling place shall be accessible to and usable by
1-19     the elderly and persons with physical disabilities [physically
1-20     handicapped].  To be considered accessible, a polling place must
1-21     meet the standards established under Article 9102, Revised
1-22     Statutes, including the following standards:
1-23                 (1)  the polling place must be on the ground-level
1-24     floor or be accessible from the ground-level floor by an elevator
1-25     with doors that provide an opening of at least 36 [30] inches in
1-26     width;
1-27                 (2)  doors, entrances, and exits used to enter or leave
1-28     the polling place must have a minimum width of 32 [30] inches;
1-29                 (3)  any curb adjacent to the main entrance to a
1-30     polling place must have curb cuts or temporary nonslip ramps;
1-31                 (4)  any stairs necessary to enter or leave the polling
1-32     place must have a handrail on each side of the stairs and a nonslip
1-33     ramp; and
1-34                 (5)  the polling place may not have a barrier that
1-35     impedes the path of a person with physical disabilities [the
1-36     physically handicapped] to the voting station.
1-37           SECTION 3.  Section 174.022(d), Election Code, is amended to
1-38     read as follows:
1-39           (d)  The place [location] selected for a precinct convention
1-40     must meet the same requirements for access by the elderly and
1-41     [physically handicapped] persons with physical disabilities as a
1-42     polling place under  Section 43.034(a) unless the state executive
1-43     committee for a political party issues an order that the places
1-44     [locations] for precinct conventions for that political party are
1-45     [do] not required [have] to meet the same requirements as a polling
1-46     place under Section 43.034(a).  The order must be entered in the
1-47     minutes of the state executive committee not later than the 30th
1-48     day [30 days] before the date precinct conventions are to be held.
1-49           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-50           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-51     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-52     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-53     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-54     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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