The Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 54 on Aug. 27 to clarify election procedures for voters who move within a county and to remove an earlier amendment that had raised concerns about same‑day registration.

Senate Bill 54 “will remove that amendment and restore us to the status quo,” Senator Hughes said when moving to suspend the regular order of business so the Senate could take up the measure. The Senate voted 19 ayes and 7 nays on final passage.

The bill’s sponsor said the measure responds to confusion created by an amendment added previously to Senate Bill 2217 and intends to ensure there is no appearance of same‑day voter registration in Texas. Senator Hughes described the change as restoring existing law and asked the Senate to act quickly to remove what he characterized as a source of confusion.

Senator Johnson offered a brief floor statement opposing the special‑session use of the bill. “I find it offensive that the governor sees fit to use all of our time in a special session to have us essentially strip what was a good bill,” Johnson said, arguing the action was a step backward from a bipartisan bill passed earlier in the regular session.

The chair recorded final passage following the roll call. The bill was laid out on third reading and finally passed 19–7; the secretary read the caption before the final vote.

The transcript shows the debate focused narrowly on restoring prior procedures and avoiding what some senators described as any appearance of same‑day registration. No statutory citations were read into the record during floor debate in the provided transcript excerpt, and no amendments to the bill text were described on the floor beyond the removal of the prior amendment.

The Senate’s action sends SB 54 back to the enrolling process; the transcript does not record any further implementation steps or anticipated legal challenges.