HBA-CMT H.B. 615 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 615 By: Maxey Elections 2/12/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Many Texans have access to the Internet and have grown accustomed to the 24-hour-a-day access to the information and services that the Internet provides. House Bill 615 allows people to register to vote online, and requires the secretary of state to adopt rules and procedures to permit a county to accept these newly registered voters. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the secretary of state in SECTION 1 (Section 13.002, Election Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 615 amends the Election Code to provide that a digital signature submitted by digital transmission is sufficient to satisfy the requirement that a voter registration application be in writing and signed by the applicant. H.B. 615 requires the secretary of state (secretary) to adopt rules to approve technologies for submitting a registration application by digital transmission and to approve technologies capable of creating digital signatures that are: _unique to the person using the signature; _capable of verification; _under the sole control of the person using the signature; _linked to the registration application such that the signature is invalidated if the information in the application is changed; and _consistent with any other criteria the secretary determines necessary to ensure the validity of the signature. The secretary is required to prescribe additional procedures as necessary to implement a system for the digital transmission of registration applications and the use of digital signatures on the applications. EFFECTIVE DATE January 1, 2002.