BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 975

By: Menéndez

Elections

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Older Texans who surrender their driver's licenses and receive personal identification certificates do not always make the necessary updates to their voter registration. Thus, when they attempt to vote by mail their carrier envelope is rejected as having a carrier defect because their new identification number does not match the previous information on file. C.S.S.B. 975 seeks to ensure that these Texans are informed that their voter registration will need to be updated and are provided an opportunity to do so at the time of applying for the personal identification certificate.

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

C.S.S.B. 975 amends the Transportation Code to require the procedures adopted by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for the issuance of a personal identification certificate to a person who surrenders their driver's license at the time of application to require that the person issued a personal identification certificate be notified that the person's voter registration information will need to be updated to include the identification number of the newly issued certificate and be provided an opportunity at the time of applying for the certificate to update their voter registration information to include that identification number.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.S.B. 975 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The engrossed included provisions that did the following:

· required that an applicable person be provided a voter registration form at the time of applying for the certificate;

· required DPS, if a person completes the form at the time of applying, to submit the completed form to the secretary of state or the county clerk of the county in which the person resides not later than the 30th day after the date the certificate is issued; and

· established that the requirement for DPS to obtain and enter information excluded from a voter registration application form applies to the form.

The substitute omits these provisions and includes instead a requirement that the person be notified that their voter registration information will need to be updated to include the identification number of the newly issued certificate and be provided an opportunity to update their voter registration information at the time of applying for the certificate to include the identification number of the newly issued certificate.