Bill Text: TX HB151 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the assistance of voters; increasing a penalty.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-13 - Referred to Elections [HB151 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB151-Introduced.html
| 86R1707 GRM-D | ||
| By: Swanson | H.B. No. 151 | |
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| relating to the assistance of voters; increasing a penalty. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 64.034, Election Code, is amended to | ||
| read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 64.034. OATH. A person selected to provide assistance | ||
| to a voter must take the following oath, administered by an election | ||
| officer at the polling place, before providing assistance: | ||
| "I swear (or affirm) that I will not suggest, by word, sign, | ||
| or gesture, how the voter should vote; I will confine my assistance | ||
| to answering the voter's questions, to stating propositions on the | ||
| ballot, and to naming candidates and, if listed, their political | ||
| parties; I will prepare the voter's ballot as the voter directs; I | ||
| did not pressure or intimidate the voter in choosing me to provide | ||
| assistance; and I am not the voter's employer, an agent of the | ||
| voter's employer, or an officer or agent of a labor union to which | ||
| the voter belongs." | ||
| SECTION 2. Section 37.02, Penal Code, is amended by | ||
| amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as | ||
| follows: | ||
| (b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor | ||
| except as provided by Subsection (c). | ||
| (c) The punishment for an offense under this section is a | ||
| state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the | ||
| offense was a violation of Section 64.034, Election Code, and was | ||
| committed three or more times in a single election. | ||
| SECTION 3. 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 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. | ||
