Bill Text: TX HB4555 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to an application for a place on a ballot filed by a person convicted of a felony and to the general requirements of an application for a place on a ballot; decreasing a criminal penalty.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-18 - Effective on 9/1/21 [HB4555 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB4555-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to an application for a place on a ballot filed by a person convicted of a felony and to the general requirements of an application for a place on a ballot; decreasing a criminal penalty.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-18 - Effective on 9/1/21 [HB4555 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB4555-Comm_Sub.html
By: Guillen, Pacheco (Senate Sponsor - Hinojosa) | H.B. No. 4555 | |
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 17, 2021; | ||
May 17, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on State | ||
Affairs; May 24, 2021, reported adversely, with favorable | ||
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; | ||
May 24, 2021, sent to printer.) | ||
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 4555 | By: Lucio |
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relating to an application for a place on a ballot filed by a person | ||
convicted of a felony and to the general requirements of an | ||
application for a place on a ballot; decreasing a criminal penalty. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 141.031, Election Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(a) A candidate's application for a place on the ballot that | ||
is required by this code must: | ||
(1) be in writing; | ||
(2) be signed and sworn to before a person authorized | ||
to administer oaths in this state by the candidate and indicate the | ||
date that the candidate swears to the application; | ||
(3) be timely filed with the appropriate authority; | ||
and | ||
(4) include: | ||
(A) the candidate's name; | ||
(B) the candidate's occupation; | ||
(C) the office sought, including any place number | ||
or other distinguishing number; | ||
(D) an indication of whether the office sought is | ||
to be filled for a full or unexpired term if the office sought and | ||
another office to be voted on have the same title but do not have | ||
place numbers or other distinguishing numbers; | ||
(E) a statement that the candidate is a United | ||
States citizen; | ||
(F) a statement that the candidate has not been | ||
determined by a final judgment of a court exercising probate | ||
jurisdiction to be: | ||
(i) totally mentally incapacitated; or | ||
(ii) partially mentally incapacitated | ||
without the right to vote; | ||
(G) an indication [ |
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candidate has either not been finally convicted of a felony or if so | ||
convicted [ |
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otherwise released from the resulting disabilities; | ||
(H) the candidate's date of birth; | ||
(I) the candidate's residence address or, if the | ||
residence has no address, the address at which the candidate | ||
receives mail and a concise description of the location of the | ||
candidate's residence; | ||
(J) the candidate's length of continuous | ||
residence in the state and in the territory from which the office | ||
sought is elected as of the date the candidate swears to the | ||
application; | ||
(K) the statement: "I, __________, of __________ | ||
County, Texas, being a candidate for the office of __________, | ||
swear that I will support and defend the constitution and laws of | ||
the United States and of the State of Texas"; | ||
(L) a statement that the candidate is aware of | ||
the nepotism law, Chapter 573, Government Code; and | ||
(M) a public mailing address at which the | ||
candidate receives correspondence relating to the candidate's | ||
campaign, if available, and an electronic mail address at which the | ||
candidate receives correspondence relating to the candidate's | ||
campaign, if available. | ||
(a-1) A person who has been convicted of a felony shall | ||
include in the application proof that the person is eligible for | ||
public office under Section 141.001(a)(4). | ||
SECTION 2. Section 141.039, Election Code, is amended to | ||
read as follows: | ||
Sec. 141.039. OFFICIAL APPLICATION FORM. In addition to | ||
the other statements and spaces for entering information that | ||
appear on an officially prescribed form for an application for a | ||
place on the ballot, each official form for an application that a | ||
candidate is required to file under this code must include: | ||
(1) a space for indicating the form in which the | ||
candidate's name is to appear on the ballot; | ||
(2) a space for the candidate's public mailing | ||
address; | ||
(3) spaces for the candidate's home and office | ||
telephone numbers and e-mail address at which the candidate | ||
receives correspondence relating to the candidate's campaign; | ||
[ |
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(4) a statement informing candidates that the | ||
furnishing of the telephone numbers is optional; | ||
(5) a statement informing candidates that knowingly | ||
providing false information on the application under Section | ||
141.031(a)(4)(G) constitutes a Class B misdemeanor; and | ||
(6) a statement informing candidates that a candidate | ||
who indicates under Section 141.031(a)(4)(G) that the candidate has | ||
been convicted of a felony must comply with the requirements of | ||
Section 141.031(a-1). | ||
SECTION 3. Section 37.10(c), Penal Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (5) to read as | ||
follows: | ||
(c)(1) Except as provided by Subdivisions (2), (3), [ |
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(4), and (5), and by Subsection (d), an offense under this section | ||
is a Class A misdemeanor unless the actor's intent is to defraud or | ||
harm another, in which event the offense is a state jail felony. | ||
(5) An offense under this section is a Class B | ||
misdemeanor if the governmental record is an application for a | ||
place on the ballot under Section 141.031, Election Code, and the | ||
actor knowingly provides false information under Subsection | ||
(a)(4)(G) of that section. | ||
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies to an | ||
application for a place on the ballot filed on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. An application for a place on the | ||
ballot filed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the | ||
law in effect on the date the application was filed, and the former | ||
law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
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