Bill Text: TX HB148 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Comm Sub
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-Comm_Sub.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-Comm_Sub.html
By: Burkett, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Paxton) | H.B. No. 148 | |
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013; | ||
April 30, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on State | ||
Affairs; May 14, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: | ||
Yeas 5, Nays 3; May 14, 2013, sent to printer.) |
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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 86.0051, Election Code, is amended by | ||
adding Subsections (b-1) and (f) and amending Subsections (c), (d), | ||
and (e) to read as follows: | ||
(b-1) A person to whom Section 86.006(f)(4) applies may not | ||
deposit in the mail or with a common or contract carrier more than | ||
10 carrier envelopes containing ballots voted by other persons in | ||
an election. This subsection does not apply to a carrier envelope | ||
containing a ballot voted by a member of the armed forces of the | ||
United States or the spouse or dependent of a member. | ||
(c) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly | ||
violates Subsection (b) or (b-1) or knowingly directs a person to | ||
engage in conduct that violates Subsection (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 Class A [ |
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misdemeanor, unless the person is convicted of an offense 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 | ||
state jail felony. | ||
(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 or state-certified | ||
facility not subject to state licensure where the voter resides who | ||
is working in the normal course of the employee's authorized | ||
duties. | ||
(f) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for an | ||
offense under this section that the person deposited carrier | ||
envelopes containing ballots voted by another person if the voter | ||
requested assistance from the person in depositing the envelope and | ||
that assistance was provided in the course of the person's normal | ||
duties as caretaker of the voter. | ||
SECTION 2. Chapter 86, Election Code, is amended by adding | ||
Section 86.0052 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 86.0052. COMPENSATION OF ANOTHER FOR COLLECTING | ||
BALLOTING MATERIALS PROHIBITED. (a) A person commits an offense if | ||
the person compensates another person to engage in conduct | ||
prohibited by Section 86.0051(b-1). | ||
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), an offense under | ||
this section is a misdemeanor punishable by: | ||
(1) confinement in jail for a term of not more than one | ||
year or less than 30 days; or | ||
(2) confinement described by Subdivision (1) and a | ||
fine not to exceed $4,000. | ||
(c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony if | ||
it is shown on the trial of an offense under this section that the | ||
defendant was previously convicted two or more times under this | ||
section. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 86.006, Election Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (f) and adding Subsection (j) 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 or | ||
state-certified facility not subject to state licensure where the | ||
voter resides who is working in the normal course of the employee's | ||
authorized duties. | ||
(j) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for an | ||
offense under Subsection (f) that the person possessed an official | ||
ballot or official carrier envelope provided to a voter, other than | ||
the person, if the voter requested assistance from the person and | ||
that assistance was provided in the course of the person's normal | ||
duties as caretaker of the voter. | ||
SECTION 4. Section 86.010(h), Election Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(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. Section 86.013(d), Election Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
(d) The following textual material, as prescribed by the | ||
secretary of state, must be printed on the reverse side of the | ||
official carrier envelope or on a separate sheet accompanying the | ||
carrier envelope when it is provided: | ||
(1) the prohibition prescribed by Section 86.006(b); | ||
(2) the conditions for delivery by common or contract | ||
carrier prescribed by Sections 81.005 and 86.006; | ||
(3) the requirements for the legal execution and | ||
delivery of the carrier envelope, including the limitation on | ||
depositing carrier envelopes containing ballots voted by other | ||
persons prescribed by Section 86.0051(b-1); | ||
(4) the prohibition prescribed by Section 86.006(e); | ||
and | ||
(5) the offenses prescribed by Sections 86.006(f) and | ||
86.010(f). | ||
SECTION 6. 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 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. | ||
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