C.S.H.B. 1701 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1701 By: Taylor Elections Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, election precincts may contain no more than 2,000 registered voters. The great number of election precincts in each county creates a fiscal burden for those conducting elections and an administrative burden for election administrators. CSHB 1701 uniformly provides for a maximum of 5,000 registered voters per county election precinct. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS CSHB 1701 amends the Election Code by providing that a county election precinct must contain at least 100 but not more than 5000, rather than 2000, registered voters. The bill repeals provisions relating to the maximum number of registered voters in a precinct for counties of varying sizes. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2003. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE CSHB 1701 modifies the original by setting a 5000, rather than 4000, registered voter cap for county election precinct size.