As of June 18, members of the Texas State Legislature, which includes the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate, have passed 34 bills related to election administration since the beginning of the year. Of those 34 bills, legislators passed zero during the week of June 12-18.
Of the 34 bills passed this year, 33 have been enacted. Republicans sponsored 17 and Democrats sponsored three, while a bipartisan group of legislators sponsored 13. Five of the 33 bills are:
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TX HB1243: Relating to the penalty for the offense of illegal voting; increasing a criminal penalty, Reps. Trent Ashby (R), Ben Bumgarner (R), Travis Clardy (R), David Cook (R), Drew Darby (R), Jay Dean (R), Mark Dorazio (R), Craig Goldman (R), Caroline Harris (R), Brian Harrison (R), Richard Hayes (R), Cole Hefner (R), Carrie Isaac (R), Jeff Leach (R), Terri Leo-Wilson (R), Janie Lopez (R), Will Metcalf (R), Andrew Murr (R), Candy Noble (R), Tom Oliverson (R), Jared Patterson (R), Dennis Paul (R), David Spiller (R), Lynn Stucky (R), Kronda Thimesch (R), and Steve Toth (R), and Sens. Paul Bettencourt (R), Brian Birdwell (R), Brandon Creighton (R), Bryan Hughes (R), Lois Kolkhorst (R), Tan Parker (R), and Angela Paxton (R).
- As introduced, this bill increases the criminal penalty for the offense of illegal voting to a felony of the second degree unless the person is convicted of an attempt, which is a state jail felony.
