Bill Text: TX HB2139 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the creation of the offense of engaging in organized election fraud activity.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-04-27 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB2139 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB2139-Introduced.html
| 85R6387 ATP-F | ||
| By: Schofield | H.B. No. 2139 | |
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| relating to the creation of the offense of engaging in organized | ||
| election fraud activity. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Chapter 276, Election Code, is amended by adding | ||
| Section 276.011 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 276.011. ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED ELECTION FRAUD | ||
| ACTIVITY. (a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to | ||
| establish, maintain, or participate in a vote harvesting | ||
| organization, the person commits or conspires to commit one or more | ||
| offenses under Titles 1 through 7. | ||
| (b) An offense under this section is one category higher | ||
| than the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that is | ||
| committed, and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, | ||
| the offense is a state jail felony. | ||
| (c) At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may | ||
| raise the issue as to whether in voluntary and complete | ||
| renunciation of the offense the defendant withdrew from the vote | ||
| harvesting organization before commission of an offense listed in | ||
| Subsection (a) and made substantial effort to prevent the | ||
| commission of the offense. If the defendant proves the issue in the | ||
| affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence the offense is the | ||
| same category of offense as the most serious offense listed in | ||
| Subsection (a) that is committed. | ||
| (d) In this section, "vote harvesting organization" means | ||
| three or more persons who collaborate in committing offenses under | ||
| Titles 1 through 7, although participants may not know each other's | ||
| identity, membership in the organization may change from time to | ||
| time, and participants may stand in a candidate-consultant, | ||
| donor-consultant, consultant-field operative, or other arm's | ||
| length relationship in the organization's operations. | ||
| (e) For purposes of this section, "conspires to commit" | ||
| means that a person agrees with one or more persons that they or one | ||
| or more of them engage in conduct that would constitute the offense | ||
| and that person and one or more of them perform an overt act in | ||
| pursuance of the agreement. An agreement constituting conspiring | ||
| to commit may be inferred from the acts of the parties. | ||
| SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies 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 when 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
