LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 88TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
March 29, 2023

TO:
Honorable Reggie Smith, Chair, House Committee on Elections
 
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB5131 by Bell, Cecil (Relating to the randomized audits of elections in certain counties.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend the Election Code related to randomized election audits in selected counties. The provisions of this bill would clarify that the randomized audits are only to be conducted for elections held on the unified election date.  It would also permit, but not require, the Secretary of State (SOS) to conduct a fifth audit under certain circumstances.

According to the SOS, the modifications the bill would make to the agency's statutory requirement to conduct randomized audits would not have a material effect because many elections are conducted on the uniform election dates set out in the Election Code.  As a result, according to the SOS, the bill would have no significant fiscal impact on the agency and would not generate any reductions in expenditures due to establishing a lower baseline of audit activity.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated based on the assessment by the SOS that the statutorily required audits would not be materially reduced in number by the bill.


Source Agencies:
307 Secretary of State
LBB Staff:
JMc, MOc, LCO, GP, NV