SRC-BWC S.B. 1311 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 1311
77R9270 TBy: Staples
State Affairs
4/5/2001
As Filed


DIGEST AND PURPOSE 

Many individuals rely on mail-forwarding services in order to receive their
mail in an efficient, reliable, and timely manner.  It often will take an
additional amount of time for an individual to respond to registration
challenge, considering the process by which the individual receives his or
her mail through the mail-forwarding service.  At times, a voter will not
have enough time to receive and respond to the notice sent by the registrar
if sent too close to the time of an election.  This places an unfair burden
on the voter to prove his or her residence.  As proposed, S.B. 1311 limits
the amount of time a voter has to challenge to 120 days before an election,
thereby passing the burden to the challenging voter. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

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

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 16.0921, Election Code, to prohibit a voter's
registration as to a particular election from being challenged on the basis
of residence after the 120th day before election day.  Prohibits a
registrar from delivering a confirmation notice to such a voter until after
election day. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 2001.