85R13305 GRM-D
By: Swanson H.B. No. 3643
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
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, 2017.