LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

May 18, 2009

TO:	Honorable Todd Smith, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1867 by Ellis (Relating to procedures related to the placement of a voter on the suspense list.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would require voter registrars to include voter renewal registration certificates returned due to an address reclassification. The bill would require the suspense list date to be the date of the most recent election in which a voter voted if a voter on the suspense list is shown to have voted in an election and the name is not to be deleted from the list. The bill would require the Secretary of State (SOS) to adopt rules for the determination of whether a voter's renewal was returned solely because of postal service errors, address reclassification, or the registrar's clerical error. The bill would also require SOS to adopt rules to provide for uniform and auditable processing of statements of residence. It is assumed that costs associated with this bill could be absorbed within existing agency resources. The bill would be effective September 1, 2009.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

307 Secretary of State

LBB Staff:

JOB, KJG, BTA, TP