| 1 | 1 | | 85R6387 ATP-F |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Schofield H.B. No. 2139 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 6 | 6 | | AN ACT |
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| 7 | 7 | | relating to the creation of the offense of engaging in organized |
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| 8 | 8 | | election fraud activity. |
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| 9 | 9 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 10 | 10 | | SECTION 1. Chapter 276, Election Code, is amended by adding |
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| 11 | 11 | | Section 276.011 to read as follows: |
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| 12 | 12 | | Sec. 276.011. ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED ELECTION FRAUD |
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| 13 | 13 | | ACTIVITY. (a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to |
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| 14 | 14 | | establish, maintain, or participate in a vote harvesting |
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| 15 | 15 | | organization, the person commits or conspires to commit one or more |
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| 16 | 16 | | offenses under Titles 1 through 7. |
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| 17 | 17 | | (b) An offense under this section is one category higher |
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| 18 | 18 | | than the most serious offense listed in Subsection (a) that is |
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| 19 | 19 | | committed, and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, |
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| 20 | 20 | | the offense is a state jail felony. |
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| 21 | 21 | | (c) At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may |
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| 22 | 22 | | raise the issue as to whether in voluntary and complete |
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| 23 | 23 | | renunciation of the offense the defendant withdrew from the vote |
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| 24 | 24 | | harvesting organization before commission of an offense listed in |
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| 25 | 25 | | Subsection (a) and made substantial effort to prevent the |
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| 26 | 26 | | commission of the offense. If the defendant proves the issue in the |
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| 27 | 27 | | affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence the offense is the |
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| 28 | 28 | | same category of offense as the most serious offense listed in |
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| 29 | 29 | | Subsection (a) that is committed. |
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| 30 | 30 | | (d) In this section, "vote harvesting organization" means |
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| 31 | 31 | | three or more persons who collaborate in committing offenses under |
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| 32 | 32 | | Titles 1 through 7, although participants may not know each other's |
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| 33 | 33 | | identity, membership in the organization may change from time to |
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| 34 | 34 | | time, and participants may stand in a candidate-consultant, |
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| 35 | 35 | | donor-consultant, consultant-field operative, or other arm's |
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| 36 | 36 | | length relationship in the organization's operations. |
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| 37 | 37 | | (e) For purposes of this section, "conspires to commit" |
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| 38 | 38 | | means that a person agrees with one or more persons that they or one |
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| 39 | 39 | | or more of them engage in conduct that would constitute the offense |
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| 40 | 40 | | and that person and one or more of them perform an overt act in |
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| 41 | 41 | | pursuance of the agreement. An agreement constituting conspiring |
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| 42 | 42 | | to commit may be inferred from the acts of the parties. |
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| 43 | 43 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 44 | 44 | | to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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| 45 | 45 | | An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 46 | 46 | | governed by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and |
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| 47 | 47 | | the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes |
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| 48 | 48 | | of this section, an offense was committed before the effective date |
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| 49 | 49 | | of this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date. |
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| 50 | 50 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |
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