LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 4, 2007

TO:	Honorable Leo Berman, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB3119 by Miles (Relating to the approval of direct recording electronic voting machines that use publicly disclosed program codes.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would require direct recording devices (DRE) using Open Source Code and DREs using voter-verified paper audit trail to comply with standards established by the Secretary of State.  It is assumed that any additional costs associated with the implementation of the bill would come from existing resources available to the Secretary of State.

The bill would become effective September 1, 2007.

Local Government Impact

There would be costs associated with implementing the provisions of the bill only if a local elections administration chooses to purchase and use machines that use open source code or voter-verified paper audit trail. Additional costs may be possible depending on the standards adopted by the Secretary of State for these machines. Machines that meet the standards may be more expensive than machines that do not meet the standards.

Source Agencies:

307 Secretary of State

LBB Staff:

JOB, MN, MS