LWVTX Blog

The regular session adjourned May 29th, and the first of what promises to be several special sessions convened that same day. The Governor’s call for this first special session did not include any of the League’s priority issues. As the leadership wrangles over tax cuts, there is time to review what has happened so far.

Voting Rights and Election Law

Our top priority was Voting Rights and Election Law and there was a lot of activity in that area. The bills

passed break down into three categories:

Bills that Impact Voters

• HB 1243 makes voting while ineligible a 2d degree felony. The League opposed this bill because lowering the penalty to a misdemeanor in 2021 had not resulted in a wave of ineligible voting and because the Senate version would also have changed the language defining intent. The final bill, while unnecessarily harsh, returns so-called ‘voter fraud’ to felony status which is not uncommon in the United States.
• HB 3159 creates an accessible online absentee ballot system and requires the Secretary of State to develop criteria for such systems.
• HB 1217 requires all counties to offer early voting for 12 consecutive hours every weekday for the last week of early voting and on Saturday and Sunday of the last week. Previously only counties of a certain size were required to offer early voting for this many hours.
• HB 1299 makes explicit the requirement of wet signatures on a vote by mail ballot. It also increases the penalty for failing to provide such a signature on a carrier envelope.
• HB 315 requires the Secretary of State to encourage voters to include a phone number on a vote by mail ballot by including an explanation of why this is important both in writing and online.
• HB 357 requires that runoff elections be held on a Saturday 30-45 days after the general election (with an exception for special elections) and requires voters using the vote by mail tracker to supply their date of birth, last four digits of their social security number and either their driver’s license number or their DMV issued ID number.
• SB 1599 addresses correcting errors on vote by mail ballots and ballot applications. Among its many provisions, the bill requires notice of errors and various options for correcting those errors, including an online option.
• SB 477 requires Election Judges to designate one parking space at every polling location for curbside voting. This parking space cannot be a space already designated as handicap. The bill further requires that the space be clearly marked and that a phone number be included.
• SB 924 allows counties with a population of not more than 1.2 million that do not participate in the countywide polling place program to consolidate any number of precincts so long as the consolidated precinct contains fewer than 10,000 active registered voters, there is no adequate polling place in the consolidated precinct or precincts, and the combined polling place will adequately serve all voters.

Bills that Impact Election Administration

• HB 246 creates a pilot program for recording activity at central count (20% of precincts in counties without a central counting station) and early voting ballot boards.
• HB 1632 establishes an online training program for election judges, members of early voting ballot boards, and members of counting stations and signature verification committees. This training is to be available without registration, but a test is required for certification.
• HB 1631 allows poll watchers to choose their own hours rather than requiring them to be at the polling place for 5 consecutive hours.
• SB 1070 requires the Secretary of State to cooperate with other states to develop systems to identify voters who have changed address, been convicted of a felony, are registered in more than one state or are otherwise ineligible to vote. The SOS may contract with a private data system that conducts background checks on its employees, uses data from the National Change of Address database, and stays within certain costs. Currently, Texas is a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).
• SB 5180 allows the public to access images of redacted voted ballots as soon as the canvas is complete and permits public access to the actual ballots (as redacted) on the 61 st day following an election.
• SB 1661 is intended to fix a problem with SB1 from the 2021 session which required counties to use election equipment that was not rewritable. The provision had been interpreted as possibly requiring counties to replace their election equipment for every election.
• SB 1052 allows election workers to be compensated for an extra hour. Bills Impacting Harris County
• SB 1750 eliminates the position of election administrator as of September 1 and sends the duties back to the county clerk and tax assessor. The bill is bracketed to counties of over 4 million which currently is only Harris County.
• SB 1933 is bracketed to counties over 4 million (Harris County) and allows the Secretary of State to assume administrative oversight of elections if a complaint is made by certain individuals (precinct judges or alternates, party leaders, candidates or in the case of an issue referendum, special purpose PACs) and notice is given to local election officials and after investigation, if the SOS has ‘good cause to believe’ that there is a pattern of recurring problems including machine malfunctions, careless or misconduct in distribution of election supplies, errors in tabulation of results impacting outcome, uncounted ballots, failure to maintain voter rolls. Oversight includes review and approval of elections policies and procedures and continues until the end of the even numbered year following the first anniversary of oversight.

Women’s Healthcare and Reproductive Rights

• HB 12, giving Medicaid patients twelve months of postpartum care, has passed both the House and Senate with the amendment attached stating postpartum benefits are only for “pregnancies that end in the delivery of the child or in the natural loss of the child. This does not include pregnancies that end through elective abortion.” It is being sent to the governor to be signed.
• SB 379 eliminates sales taxes on feminine hygiene products, wound care dressings, many medicines, prescription lenses, and hearing devices. It passed both the House and the Senate and is headed to the governor.

Public Education

• SB 8 failed to pass the House. The bill would have created educational savings accounts for parents wishing to apply up to $8,000 in taxpayer money to private school or other alternative education.
• HB 100, the funding formula for public schools, was amended in the Senate to include educational. The amended bill failed in the House.
• SB 9, the funding formula for public schools, was amened in the House to include House priorities and ultimately failed.

Gun Safety

• HB 2744 raised the age for purchasing an assault rifle from 18 to 21, but ultimately failed to get a vote in the House.
• HB 623, allowing election judges with licenses to carry to carry firearms in the polls, failed.

Nonpriority Issues



• HB 2127, dubbed the Death Star Preemption bill, prohibits cities or counties from passing local ordinances in ‘fields’ occupied by the State. Those ‘fields’ include Agriculture, Finance, Natural Resources, Labor, Occupations, Energy and Property. The final bill was amended to require lawsuits enforcing the law to be filed in the county in which the ordinance was passed. The bill was also amended to allow courts to determine where to award fees and costs.
• SB 1045 establishes a 15th District Court of Appeals with statewide jurisdiction. The new court has exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction of cases in which the state or one of its boards or agencies is a party and cases challenging the constitutionality of state statutes.
• HB 17 defines as misconduct adoption by a prosecutor or assistant prosecutor or enforcement of a policy refusing to prosecute a class of criminal offense under the Penal Code. It is not misconduct if the policy results from a court order or if there is a reasonable evidentiary impediment to prosecution. Complaints may be filed by anyone who has been a resident of the particular county for 6 months and are made to the presiding judge of the administrative judicial region.