Amend CSSB 1 (house committee report) as follows:
(1) Add the following appropriately numbered SECTIONS to ARTICLE 4 of the bill and renumber subsequent SECTIONS of ARTICLE 4 accordingly:
SECTION 4.____. Subchapter A, Chapter 33, Election Code, is amended by adding Section 33.008 to read as follows:
Sec. 33.008. TRAINING PROGRAM. The secretary of state shall develop and maintain a training program for watchers. The training program must:
(1) be available:
(A) entirely via the Internet; and
(B) at any time, without a requirement for prior registration; and
(2) provide a watcher who completes the training with a certificate of completion.
SECTION 4.____. Section 33.031, Election Code, is amended by adding Subsection (b) to read as follows:
(b) In addition to the requirements of Subsection (a), to be eligible to serve as a watcher, a person must complete training under Section 33.008.
(2) On page 12, line 14, strike "adding Subsections (g) and (h)" and substitute "amending Subsections (a), (b), (d), and (e) and adding Subsections (a-1), (g), and (h)".
(3) On page 12, between lines 14 and 15, insert the following:
(a) A watcher appointed to serve at a precinct polling place, a meeting place for an early voting ballot board, or a central counting station must deliver the following materials [a certificate of appointment] to the presiding judge at the time the watcher reports for service:
(1) a certificate of appointment; and
(2) a certificate of completion from training completed by the watcher under Section 33.008.
(a-1) A watcher appointed to serve at an early voting polling place must deliver the certificates under Subsection (a) [a certificate of appointment] to the early voting clerk or deputy clerk in charge of the polling place when the watcher first reports for service.
(b) The officer presented with a watcher's certificates [certificate of appointment] shall require the watcher to countersign the certificate of appointment to ensure that the watcher is the same person who signed the certificate of appointment. Except as provided by Subsection (c), a watcher who presents himself or herself at the proper time with the certificates required under Subsection (a) [a certificate of appointment] shall be accepted for service unless the person is ineligible to serve or the number of appointees to which the appointing authority is entitled have already been accepted.
(d) The certificates [certificate] of a watcher serving at an early voting polling place shall be retained at the polling place until voting at the polling place is concluded. At each subsequent time that the watcher reports for service, the watcher shall inform the clerk or deputy in charge. The officer may require the watcher to sign the watcher's name in the officer's presence, for comparison with the signature on the certificate of appointment, if the officer is uncertain of the watcher's identity.
(e) If a watcher is not accepted for service, the certificates [certificate of appointment] shall be returned to the watcher with a signed statement of the reason for the rejection.