Bill Text: TX HB148 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to aid provided to certain voters; providing criminal penalties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/13 [HB148 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB148-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relating to aid provided to certain voters; providing criminal penalties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)
Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/13 [HB148 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HB148-Introduced.html
83R33 ATP-F | ||
By: Burkett | H.B. No. 148 |
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relating to aid provided to certain voters; providing criminal | ||
penalties. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 64.036(d), Election Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony | ||
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SECTION 2. Section 86.0051, Election Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsections (c), (d), and (e) | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(b-1) A person may not deposit in the mail or with a common | ||
or contract carrier more than two carrier envelopes containing | ||
ballots voted by other persons in an election. | ||
(c) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly | ||
violates Subsection (b) or (b-1). It is not a defense to an offense | ||
under this subsection that the voter voluntarily gave another | ||
person possession of the voter's carrier envelope. | ||
(d) An offense under this section is a state jail felony | ||
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under Section 64.036 for providing unlawful assistance to the same | ||
voter in connection with the same ballot, in which event the offense | ||
is a [ |
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(e) Subsections (a) and (c) do not apply if the person is | ||
related to the applicant within the second degree by affinity or the | ||
third degree by consanguinity, as determined under Subchapter B, | ||
Chapter 573, Government Code[ |
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employee of a state licensed care facility where the voter resides | ||
who is working in the normal course of the employee's authorized | ||
duties. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 86.006(f), Election Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(f) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly | ||
possesses an official ballot or official carrier envelope provided | ||
under this code to another. Unless the person possessed the ballot | ||
or carrier envelope with intent to defraud the voter or the election | ||
authority, this subsection does not apply to a person who, on the | ||
date of the offense, was: | ||
(1) related to the voter within the second degree by | ||
affinity or the third degree by consanguinity, as determined under | ||
Subchapter B, Chapter 573, Government Code; | ||
(2) registered to vote at the same address as the | ||
voter; | ||
(3) an early voting clerk or a deputy early voting | ||
clerk; | ||
(4) a person who possesses the carrier envelope in | ||
order to deposit the envelope in the mail or with a common or | ||
contract carrier and who provides the information required by | ||
Section 86.0051(b) in accordance with that section; | ||
(5) an employee of the United States Postal Service | ||
working in the normal course of the employee's authorized duties; | ||
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(6) a common or contract carrier working in the normal | ||
course of the carrier's authorized duties if the official ballot is | ||
sealed in an official carrier envelope that is accompanied by an | ||
individual delivery receipt for that particular carrier envelope; | ||
or | ||
(7) an employee of a state licensed care facility | ||
where the voter resides who is working in the normal course of the | ||
employee's authorized duties. | ||
SECTION 4. Sections 86.010(g) and (h), Election Code, are | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(g) An offense under this section is a state jail felony | ||
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under Section 64.036 for providing unlawful assistance to the same | ||
voter, in which event the offense is a [ |
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third degree. | ||
(h) Subsection (f) does not apply if the person is related | ||
to the applicant within the second degree by affinity or the third | ||
degree by consanguinity, as determined under Subchapter B, Chapter | ||
573, Government Code[ |
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SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to | ||
an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An | ||
offense committed before the effective date of this Act is governed | ||
by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the | ||
former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of | ||
this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of | ||
this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date. | ||
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |