| 1 | 1 | | 89R3477 TSS-F |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Creighton S.B. No. 2363 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 8 | 8 | | AN ACT |
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| 9 | 9 | | relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of unlawfully |
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| 10 | 10 | | publishing a vote. |
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| 11 | 11 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 12 | 12 | | SECTION 1. Section 61.006, Election Code, is amended to |
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| 13 | 13 | | read as follows: |
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| 14 | 14 | | Sec. 61.006. UNLAWFULLY PUBLISHING [DIVULGING] VOTE. (a) |
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| 15 | 15 | | In this section: |
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| 16 | 16 | | (1) "Effective consent" means consent by a person |
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| 17 | 17 | | legally authorized to act for the voter. Consent is not effective |
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| 18 | 18 | | if: |
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| 19 | 19 | | (A) induced by force, threat, or fraud; |
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| 20 | 20 | | (B) given by a person the actor knows is not |
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| 21 | 21 | | legally authorized to act for the voter; |
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| 22 | 22 | | (C) given by a person who by reason of youth, |
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| 23 | 23 | | mental disease or defect, or intoxication is known by the actor to |
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| 24 | 24 | | be unable to make reasonable decisions; or |
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| 25 | 25 | | (D) given solely to detect the commission of an |
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| 26 | 26 | | offense. |
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| 27 | 27 | | (2) "Publish" means to communicate information or make |
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| 28 | 28 | | information available to another person orally, in writing, or by |
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| 29 | 29 | | means of telecommunication or electronic communication. |
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| 30 | 30 | | (a-1) A person commits an offense if the person [was in a |
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| 31 | 31 | | polling place for any purpose other than voting and] knowingly |
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| 32 | 32 | | publishes [communicates to another person information that the |
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| 33 | 33 | | person obtained at the polling place about] how a voter has voted |
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| 34 | 34 | | without the effective consent of the voter. |
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| 35 | 35 | | (b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third |
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| 36 | 36 | | degree. |
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| 37 | 37 | | (c) It is an exception to prosecution under this section |
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| 38 | 38 | | that the person published the voter's voting [This section does not |
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| 39 | 39 | | apply to] information during: |
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| 40 | 40 | | (1) [presented in] an official investigation to which |
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| 41 | 41 | | the information was relevant; or |
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| 42 | 42 | | (2) an administrative, executive, legislative, or |
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| 43 | 43 | | judicial proceeding conducted before a public servant and to [other |
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| 44 | 44 | | official proceeding in] which the information was [is] relevant, |
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| 45 | 45 | | including during the administration of an election. |
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| 46 | 46 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 47 | 47 | | to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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| 48 | 48 | | An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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| 49 | 49 | | governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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| 50 | 50 | | and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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| 51 | 51 | | purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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| 52 | 52 | | effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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| 53 | 53 | | before that date. |
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| 54 | 54 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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