By: Bettencourt, et al. S.B. No. 508
(In the Senate - Filed November 25, 2024; February 3, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
March 31, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9,
Nays 0; March 31, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to preparing and delivering precinct election returns;
increasing a criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 65.014(e), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(e) An offense under Subsection (d) is a Class A [B]
misdemeanor.
SECTION 2. Section 66.055, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 66.055. FAILURE TO DELIVER [JUDICIAL IMPOUNDMENT OF]
ELECTION RECORDS. (a) If the precinct election records are not
delivered by the deadline prescribed by Section 66.053(c):
(1) the secretary of state may supervise the
activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct
returns, and distribute the records; or
(2)[,] on application by a member of the canvassing
authority, a district judge shall order the precinct election
records to be impounded.
(b) If the precinct election records are impounded under
Subsection (a)(2), the [The] district judge shall supervise the
activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct
returns, and distribute the records.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act in amending
Section 65.014(e), Election Code, 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, 2025.
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