BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	H.B. 2559
85R21639 ATP-D	By: Reynolds (Burton)
	State Affairs
	5/18/2017
	Engrossed

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

H.B. 2559 allows interested parties to see which voters have opted to receive mail-in ballots for the rest of the calendar year after the first eligible election. By allowing this information to be accessible, the amount of duplicate applications for mail-in ballots will be significantly reduced as voters who have opted-in will receive fewer requests to apply for a mail-in ballot from interested parties, such as political campaigns.

Logically with this information, entities that send voters applications for mail-in ballots will only target voters who have not already opted-in to receive future mail-in ballots. By making this minor change the legislature can tremendously reduce county clerk offices' workload.

H.B. 2559 amends current law relating to public inspection of mail ballot applications.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 86.014(a), Election Code, to provide that a copy of an application for a ballot to be voted by mail is not available for public inspection, except to the voter seeking to verify that the information pertaining to the voter is accurate, until the first business day after the election day of the earliest, rather than latest, occurring election for which the application is submitted.

SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2017.