The Senate State Affairs committee on June 21 voted unanimously to report Senate Bill 54 favorably to the full Senate; the bill removes language added to Senate Bill 22‑17 that committee members said could be construed as permitting same‑day registration when a voter changes residence within the same county.

Senator Hughes, laying out the measure, said the amendment to 22‑17 had been offered in the House with election administrators’ support to clarify how address updates within a county are treated at the polls. The contested language said, in part, that “a voter’s registration takes effect immediately upon the registrar’s receipt of a notice of the voter’s change of address … if the voter changes residence within the same county as the voter’s current registration address.”

Hughes told the committee that concerns subsequently arose that the language might be read as creating same‑day registration, which Texas law does not provide. “Since that time, concern has arisen about the language that it might be construed as, same day registration,” Hughes said. The language was scheduled to take effect Sept. 1, but the committee’s bill, Senate Bill 54, strikes the amendment to leave the rest of SB 22‑17 intact.

Committee members asked no further questions; public testimony was closed without speakers. The clerk recorded the committee vote as eight ayes and zero nays, and the committee reported the bill favorably to the full Senate.

What the bill does: Senate Bill 54 removes the House floor amendment to SB 22‑17 that would have made a same‑county change of address effective upon registrar receipt of notice. The sponsor said the removal is intended to eliminate any doubt that Texas law continues to preclude same‑day registration.