85R6387 ATP-F
By: Schofield H.B. No. 2139
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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.