(a) Section 123.033 of the Texas Election Code provides for the rental rate that a county may charge for the use of its equipment. (The rental rates are $5 for each unit of tabulating equipment and $5 for each unit of electronic voting system equipment installed at a polling location.) Removable components, such as a flash drive or accessibility component, may not be charged separately.     
      (b) In addition to subsection (a) of this section, the primary fund may be used to pay the actual expenses incurred by the county in transporting, preparing, programming, and testing the necessary equipment, as well as for staffing the central counting station.     
      (c) The county chair shall submit all calculations for amounts charged for the use of county-owned and non-county-owned equipment to the SOS for review with the final cost report.     
      (d) The county chair shall not use primary funds to pay expenses related to the use of non-county-owned equipment, including, but not limited to, ballot boxes and voting booths pursuant to §51.035 of the Texas Election Code, without approval from the SOS.     
      (e) Pursuant to §51.035 of the Texas Election Code, counties may not charge the county parties for use of county-owned voting booths or ballot boxes and other county-owned equipment where there is no statutory authority to charge for said equipment; however, the primary fund may pay the actual expenses incurred by the county in transporting the equipment to and from the polling places if the county provides that service.     
      (f) Pursuant to the General Appropriations Act, 86th Texas Legislature, primary funds shall not be used to pay the costs of leasing non-county-owned equipment that is needed to conduct non-joint primary elections.     
     Source Note:        The provisions of this §81.130 adopted to be effective December 13, 2009, 34 TexReg 8665; amended to be effective March 7, 2012, 37 TexReg 1483; amended to be effective January 9, 2014, 39 TexReg 209; amended to be effective November 9, 2015, 40 TexReg 7811; amended to be effective October 29, 2017, 42 TexReg 5853; amended to be effective December 29, 2019, 44 TexReg 7884