Chairman Hughes, the billauthor, told the Committee on State Affairs that Senate Bill 1470 would allow the Secretary of State to obtain data from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) regarding cross-state moves.

Hughes said, "This does not create any new data collection. It just requires agencies to share the data they already have." He described the typical flow: when someone moves and obtains an out-of-state driver license, the new state often notifies DPS to cancel the Texas license; that notification is "possibly the best data for cross state moves," and the Secretary of State could use it for voter list maintenance. Hughes said the bill "doesn't alter current law on removing voters from the rolls; it just provides another piece of data for the Secretary of State to use."

Nut graf: The bill aims to improve the Secretary of State's list-maintenance tools by allowing the agency to receive DPS data it already holds about out-of-state license notifications, rather than creating a new data collection process.

The committee called resource witnesses from DPS and the Secretary of State to describe implementation. No public proponents or opponents spoke; the chair closed testimony and left the bill pending. Members asked no follow-up questions during the hearing recorded in the transcript.

Ending: The bill was left pending with public testimony closed; no vote was taken.