BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1477 By: Swanson Elections Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under the Election Code, the presiding judge at an election day polling location is required to deliver the election records to the appropriate authorities immediately after the precinct returns are completed. The election judge is required to notify the general custodian of election records if the records will not be delivered by 2 a.m. the day after election day and the election precinct returns must be delivered not later than 24 hours after the polls close in each election. However, the author has informed the committee that Harris County has experienced numerous elections where the election records from the polling location were not accounted for until the following day or perhaps even later, such as in the 2022 primary election when the central counting station did not complete its work until 2 a.m. on the Thursday after election day. H.B. 1477 seeks to address this issue by providing for additional oversight to the collection of precinct returns and by increasing the penalty for knowingly failing to either include required election records in precinct returns or complete the returns by the deadline established in state law. CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS H.B. 1477 amends the Election Code to increase from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor the penalty for the offense for a presiding election judge who knowingly fails to do the following: include in the precinct returns the applicable information required by the Election Code; or complete the returns in time for them to be delivered by the prescribed 24-hour deadline after the polls close in each election. The bill authorizes the secretary of state, if the precinct election records are not delivered by the prescribed 24-hour deadline, to supervise the activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct returns, and distribute the records. H.B. 1477 establishes that the bill's penalty increase applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. An offense committed before the bill's effective date 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 these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2025.
BILL ANALYSIS
# BILL ANALYSIS
H.B. 1477
By: Swanson
Elections
Committee Report (Unamended)
H.B. 1477
By: Swanson
Elections
Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under the Election Code, the presiding judge at an election day polling location is required to deliver the election records to the appropriate authorities immediately after the precinct returns are completed. The election judge is required to notify the general custodian of election records if the records will not be delivered by 2 a.m. the day after election day and the election precinct returns must be delivered not later than 24 hours after the polls close in each election. However, the author has informed the committee that Harris County has experienced numerous elections where the election records from the polling location were not accounted for until the following day or perhaps even later, such as in the 2022 primary election when the central counting station did not complete its work until 2 a.m. on the Thursday after election day. H.B. 1477 seeks to address this issue by providing for additional oversight to the collection of precinct returns and by increasing the penalty for knowingly failing to either include required election records in precinct returns or complete the returns by the deadline established in state law.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS H.B. 1477 amends the Election Code to increase from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor the penalty for the offense for a presiding election judge who knowingly fails to do the following: include in the precinct returns the applicable information required by the Election Code; or complete the returns in time for them to be delivered by the prescribed 24-hour deadline after the polls close in each election. The bill authorizes the secretary of state, if the precinct election records are not delivered by the prescribed 24-hour deadline, to supervise the activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct returns, and distribute the records. H.B. 1477 establishes that the bill's penalty increase applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. An offense committed before the bill's effective date 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 these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2025.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Under the Election Code, the presiding judge at an election day polling location is required to deliver the election records to the appropriate authorities immediately after the precinct returns are completed. The election judge is required to notify the general custodian of election records if the records will not be delivered by 2 a.m. the day after election day and the election precinct returns must be delivered not later than 24 hours after the polls close in each election. However, the author has informed the committee that Harris County has experienced numerous elections where the election records from the polling location were not accounted for until the following day or perhaps even later, such as in the 2022 primary election when the central counting station did not complete its work until 2 a.m. on the Thursday after election day. H.B. 1477 seeks to address this issue by providing for additional oversight to the collection of precinct returns and by increasing the penalty for knowingly failing to either include required election records in precinct returns or complete the returns by the deadline established in state law.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
H.B. 1477 amends the Election Code to increase from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor the penalty for the offense for a presiding election judge who knowingly fails to do the following:
include in the precinct returns the applicable information required by the Election Code; or
complete the returns in time for them to be delivered by the prescribed 24-hour deadline after the polls close in each election.
The bill authorizes the secretary of state, if the precinct election records are not delivered by the prescribed 24-hour deadline, to supervise the activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct returns, and distribute the records.
H.B. 1477 establishes that the bill's penalty increase applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. An offense committed before the bill's effective date 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 these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2025.