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78R7932 DLF-D

By:  Brown of Kaufman                                             H.B. No. 2119



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to certain duties of local registrars of deaths relating 
to voter registration.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 16.001(a), Election Code, is amended to 
read as follows: 
	(a)  The [Each month the] local registrar of deaths shall 
prepare an abstract of each death certificate issued [in the month] 
for a decedent 18 years of age or older who was a resident of the 
state at the time of death.  The local registrar of deaths shall 
file each abstract with the voter registrar of the decedent's 
county of residence not later than the 10th day after the date the 
death certificate is issued [of the month following the month in 
which the abstract is prepared].
	SECTION 2.  Section 16.001, Election Code, is amended by 
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(d)  For each abstract of a death certificate required to be 
filed under Subsection (a) that is filed after the date established 
by that subsection, the county or municipality, as applicable, 
shall pay on behalf of the local registrar of deaths to the 
secretary of state a late fee of $25.  The secretary of state may 
require reports from, or audit the records of, a local registrar of 
deaths as necessary to enforce this subsection.
	SECTION 3.  Section 191.022(a), Health and Safety Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The justice of the peace is the local registrar of 
births and deaths in a justice of the peace precinct.  However, the 
duty of registering births and deaths may be transferred to the 
county clerk if the justice of the peace and the county clerk agree 
in writing and the agreement is ratified by the commissioners 
court.  The county shall notify the secretary of state, in the 
manner required by the secretary of state, of the person serving as 
the local registrar for births and deaths in the county.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, except 
that Section 2 of this Act takes effect September 1, 2004.