83R33 ATP-F
By: Burkett H.B. No. 148
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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
[Class A misdemeanor].
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
[Class B 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 of the third degree.
(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[, or is registered to vote at the same
address as the applicant]. Subsection (c) does not apply to 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 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;
[or]
(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
[Class A misdemeanor] unless the person is convicted of an offense
under Section 64.036 for providing unlawful assistance to the same
voter, in which event the offense is a [state jail] felony of the
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[, or is registered to vote at the same address
as the applicant].
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.