BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4416

By: Middleton

Elections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that the current vote threshold required for a political party to be entitled to have its nominee for a statewide office placed on the ballot in subsequent general elections is too low. H.B. 4416 seeks to address this issue by increasing the minimum number of votes required to meet that threshold.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 4416 amends the Election Code to increase the minimum number of votes that a political party's nominee for statewide office must receive in a general election to trigger the entitlement for the political party to have the names of its nominees placed on the ballot in each subsequent general election without filing the requisite lists of precinct convention participants from five percent of the total number of votes received by all candidates for that office to 10 percent of that total number.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.