| TO: | Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, House Committee on Elections |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB3160 by Taylor, Van (Relating to the verification of citizenship of an applicant for voter registration.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend the Election Code relating to the verification of citizenship of an applicant for voter registration.
The registrar would be required to review each voter application to determine whether the applicant is a United States citizen. If the application is submitted to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) in person with certain proof of citizenship, then the registrar would be required to make that determination. Otherwise, the registrar would be required to forward the information to the Secretary of State (SOS) and SOS would be required to verify citizenship with DPS and then notify the registrar.
If an applicant does not provide proof of citizenship within a certain period of time, the registrar would be required to reject the application and notify SOS and SOS would be required to keep a list of these applicants. SOS would also be required to adopt rules and prescribe procedures for implementation.
The bill would repeal Section 13.041 of the Election Code relating to the effect of submission of application and Section 13.143(d) and (e) of the Election Code relating to effective date of registration.
It is assumed that there would be programming costs for DPS and SOS to allow for citizenship verification but it is anticipated that any costs associated with implementation of the legislation could be absorbed within existing resources.
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011.
| Source Agencies: | 307 Secretary of State, 405 Department of Public Safety
|
| LBB Staff: | JOB, JT, BTA, KKR, ESi
|