LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              March 30, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Debra Danburg, Chair, House Committee on
               Elections
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB3181  by Danburg (Relating to procedures for
               maintaining information on lists of registered voters.),
               Committee Report 1st House, as amended
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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Local Government Impact
  
The bill would require a county registrar, that has not contracted with
the Secretary of State for electronic data services under the
registration service program, to deliver to the Secretary of State once a
week a list containing each new registration, canceled registration, and
change in registration information that has occurred in the county since
the previous list was submitted.  Under current statute, the list must
be submitted quarterly.

The bill would also authorize the Secretary to place into a special fund
any lapsed funds after the expiration of the period in which those funds
would be disbursed to registrars and issue those monies to counties that
have limited technological resources to upgrade voter registration
technology. The lapsed funds are from those funds already appropriated
and earmarked for disbursement to voter registrars statewide. Under the
provisions of the bill, the Secretary would also be required to give
preference to counties with limited resources for technology improvements
when transferring surplus computer equipment.

According to the Texas Association of Election Administrators,
approximately 120 of the 254 counties contract with the Secretary of
State for use of the electronic Texas Voter Registration System (TVRS).
Contacted counties with a population over 200,000 that do not contract
with the Secretary estimate the requirements under the provisions of the
bill would increase their annual operating costs by approximately
$96,000.

Some of the counties with a population under 80,000 indicated they
contract with a vendor to keep their voter database current.  The vendors
charge an average of $175 per report generated. If reporting
requirements were to increase from quarterly to weekly, the counties
anticipate that the vendors would charge a one-time programming fee that
would adjust the system to generate weekly instead of quarterly reports.
The programming cost is estimated to range from $6,000 to $7,000. The
annual cost for the reports would increase from $700 a year for four
reports to $9,100 per year for 52 reports.  Switching to a contract with
the Secretary, rather than continuing with existing systems, would result
in the cost of any computer equipment and software necessary to
interface with the TVRS.

Those counties that have limited technology resources and that would be
eligible for the surplus computer equipment from the Secretary of State
and for special funds to assist in upgrading their technology systems
would have a positive fiscal impact.  The fiscal benefit would vary by
eligible county and would be dependent on the level of lapsed funds
available, which would also vary annually.  According to the Secretary
of State, lapsed funds in fiscal year 1997 totaled $17,000 and in fiscal
year 1998 totaled $400,000. These funds are already earmarked to assist
voter registrars and vary depending on each county's annual needs.
  
  
Source Agencies:   405   Texas Department of Public Safety, 307
                   Secretary of State
LBB Staff:         JK, DB, TB, SK, DG