Bills List: Protect Our Elections
The Montgomery County Republican Party’s Legislative Committee monitors Legislative Priority bills and sends emails to keep you informed when action is needed. Subscribe today by clicking below!
Priority Bills Passed:
SB 825 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to the deadline for submitting certain recount petitions. Montgomery County Legislators - Author: Senator Bettencourt.
SB 1070 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to the interstate voter registration crosscheck program. Montgomery County Legislators - Coauthors: Senators Bettencourt, Creighton, and Kolkhorst.
SB 1661 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to a ballot scan system used in a central counting station. Montgomery County Legislators - House companion bill HB 4733 filed by Representative Toth.
SB 1750 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to abolishing the county elections administrator position in certain counties. Montgomery County Legislators - Author: Senator Bettencourt.
SB 1933 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to certain oversight procedures of the state over county elections. Montgomery County Legislators - Author: Senator Bettencourt. Coauthor: Senator Creighton.
HB 1243 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to the penalty for the offense of illegal voting; increasing a criminal penalty. Montgomery County Legislators - Coauthors: Representatives Metcalf and Toth. Cosponsors: Senators Bettencourt, Creighton, and Kolkhorst.
HB 5180 - Signed into law, becomes effective Sept. 1. Relating to the public inspection of election records. Montgomery County Legislators - Cosponsor: Senator Bettencourt.
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Bills that passed both the House & Senate.
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Update: Passed the Senate, passed the House on May 12, sent to Governor, signed by the Governor on 05/27.
SB 825 - Authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt.
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Updates: Passed the Senate, House placed on General State Calendar for 05/16, House postponed on 05/16, reported favorably without amendments on 05/17, back for a House vote on 05/20, House passed to 3rd reading as amended on 05/22, passed the House on 05/23, sent to the Governor on 05/29, signed 06/18, becomes effective 09/01.
“The legislation effectively bars Texas from participating in a controversial voter roll interstate crosscheck program, known as ERIC, by setting new cost limits and security requirements for any program used by the state.
Texas law requires the state to participate in a crosscheck program, but some GOP officials and election integrity advocates want the state to withdraw from ERIC due to concerns about the program’s costs, data security, and possible partisan access to voter data.”
SB 1070 by Senator Bryan Hughes passed through the Senate without delay, but then languished in the House for a month before finally being sent on for a House vote.
“After the bill's sponsor initially postponed the bill to oblivion, SB 1070 election integrity legislation to remove Texas from ERIC is back on the calendar for Saturday #txlege” —-Brandon WaltonsIf our election process is vulnerable, nothing else we do will matter.
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Update: Passed the Senate, reported favorably without amendments by House Committee on 05/01/23, passed the House on 05/23, sent to the Governor on 05/29, signed into law, becomes effective 09/01.
Whether or not you believe that election machines were tampered with, manipulated, hacked into, most of us would likely agree that would be a bad thing, right?
SB 1661, a short and simple bill by Senator Bryan Hughes of District 1, would prohibit the state from buying or using a ballot scanner unless that scanner can only use a storage device, such as a flash drive that can only be used once.
According to Hughes’ explanation of the bill, “This would ensure that the data storage device cannot be overridden or have the data changed once the data is entered. If the device's data is changed, then the device shall be unreadable.”
How direct and transparent is that? And why would anyone oppose it? -
Update: Passed the Senate, House Elections Committee sent to Calendars on 05/15, placed on General State Calendar for 05/20, House passed to 3rd reading on 05/22, passed the House on 05/23, sent to the Governor on 05/29, signed by the Governor, becomes effective 09/01.
SB 1750 - Authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt.
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Updates: Passed the Senate, House Elections Committee reported favorably as substituted on 05/05/23, passed the House on 05/23/23, sent to Governor on 05/29/23, signed into law, becomes effective on 09/01/23.
SB 1933 authorizes the Secretary of State to conduct additional random election audits in smaller counties and, where recurring problems are identified, to order administrative oversight or state conservatorship of the county’s elections office. Current law prescribes audits every two years of two large and two small counties selected at random. HB 5131 is the companion bill in the House.
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Updates: Signed into law, becomes effective 09/01/23.
HB 1243 - by Rep. Hefner returns the penalty for voter fraud to a felony.
This is a Republican Party of Texas Priority Bill.
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Updates: Passed the House on 05/06/23. Passed the Senate on 05/24. Sent to Governor on 05/30, signed into law, effective 09/01.
HB 5180 - Requires the general public be able to view anonymously voted ballots, cast vote records and ballot images within 61 days of an election.
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Update: Passed the House, referred to Senate State Affairs Committee on 05/01/23.
HB 1243 - Movement On One Election Integrity Bill
An election integrity bill that would return illegal voting to a felony offense has passed the House with an 83 to 63 vote. HB 1243 was authored by Representative Cole Hefner of District 5 and has a similar bill in the Senate that has been assigned to the State Affairs Committee.
In the bill’s analysis, Hefner explains, “Faith in the electoral process has decreased in recent years. While every level of Texas government has been active in further securing our elections, according to a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, 29 percent of all Americans have little to no confidence in our elections, up from 19 percent in 2018. In light of this, the punishment for illegal voting should send a message that the crime of illegal voting is a serious offense. H.B. 1243 seeks to address this issue by increasing the penalty for illegal voting.”
Following are the names of representatives and how they voted.
Yeas - Allison; Anderson; Ashby; Bailes; Bell, C.; Bell, K.; Bonnen; Buckley; Bumgarner; Burns; Burrows; Button; Cain; Capriglione; Clardy; Cook; Craddick; Cunningham; Darby; DeAyala; Dorazio; Frank; Frazier; Gates; Gerdes; Geren; Goldman; Guillen; Harless; Harris, C.E.; Harrison; Hayes; Hefner; Holland; Hull; Hunter; Isaac; Jetton; Kacal; King, K.; Kitzman; Klick; Kuempel; Lambert; Landgraf; Leach; Leo-Wilson; Lopez, J.; Lozano; Lujan; Metcalf; Meyer; Morrison; Murr; Noble; Oliverson; Orr; Patterson; Paul; Price; Raney; Rogers; Schaefer; Schatzline; Schofield; Shaheen; Shine; Slaton; Slawson; Smith; Smithee; Spiller; Stucky; Swanson; Tepper; Thimesch; Thompson, E.; Tinderholt; Toth; Troxclair; VanDeaver; Vasut; Wilson
Nays - Allen; Anchía; Bernal; Bhojani; Bowers; Bryant; Bucy; Campos; Canales; Cole; Collier; Cortez; Davis; Dutton; Flores; Gámez; Garcia; González, J.; González, M.; Goodwin; Guerra; Hernandez; Herrero; Hinojosa; Howard; Johnson, A.; Johnson, J.D.; Johnson, J.E.; Jones, J.; Jones, V.; King, T.; Lalani; Longoria; Lopez, R.; Manuel; Martinez; Martinez Fischer; Meza; Moody; Morales Shaw; Morales, C.; Morales, E.; Muñoz; Neave Criado; Ordaz; Ortega; Perez; Plesa; Ramos; Raymond; Reynolds; Romero; Rose; Rosenthal; Sherman; Talarico; Thierry; Thompson, S.; Turner; Vo; Walle; Wu; Zwiener
Present, not voting - Harris, C.J.(C); Mr. Speaker
Absent, Excused - Gervin-Hawkins
Absent - Dean
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Update: Left pending in committee on 03/30/23.
HB 2020 (Oliverson) - If a county fails to fire an election administrator who continues to allow serious problems to impact the vote of the citizens, this bill would allow the Secretary of State to replace the failed election administrator. This is a protective remedy for voters who are continually subjected to a recurring pattern of problems.
This is a Republican Party of Texas Priority Bill.
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Update: All of these bills are still sitting in the House Elections Committee. None have had a hearing.
Sometimes, I feel like we are the little Dutch boy, sticking our collective finger in the dam to prevent a flood. To be honest, cheating in elections has been around for a very long time. But as our elections systems have grown and become more complex, opportunities for shenanigans pop up, like the hole in the dyke.
There are many bills designed to plug those holes, if they can get through through the obstacle course that is the Texas legislative session. So far, only one bill that addresses any of our party’s eight legislative priorities has passed through the House. So, be prepared to put pressure on our representatives to move these bills, if you care about free and fair elections.
HB 2728 - This bill authored by Representative Dennis Paul of District 129 requires electronic devices for voting be capable of updating in real time every ten minutes. The SOS may not certify this machine if it does not have this capability.
HB 4329 - This bill authored by Representative Mike Schofield of District 132 requires a voter to declare their residential address be the location, where the person habitually sleeps. One would think that was already a law.
HB 4548 - This bill authored by Representative Steve Toth of District of District 15 says that the registrar must offer the range of serial numbers of ballots received and provided to voters, including serial numbers of spoiled ballots.
HB 4719 - This bill also by Representative Toth requires that the Secretary of State appoint a dedicated cybersecurity expert to implement cyber security measures in order to protect election data and provides consequences for any election data breech performed by an employee. It also prohibits the use of electronic systems capable of being connected to the Internet. A friend of mine, who is an IT security expert says that the internet is like Swiss cheese. Never trust your vote to it.
HB 4733 - This bill, again by Representative Toth, prohibits ballot scanners from being connected to storage devices that have capabilities to modify scanned ballots.
Why would anyone of good intent be opposed to such common sense legislation for an uncommon time in our history? Thanks to Grassroots America for the heads-up!
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Update: Left pending in House Elections Committee on 03/30/23.
HB 3611 (Cain) – Prohibiting Ranked Choice voting. This is a very important bill and if we do not deal with it in the legislature, we will likely be dealing with it in our elections!
This is a Republican Party of Texas Priority Bill.
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Update: Placed on General State Calendar for May 11, no vote in House as of 05/22.
HB 4636 - Cedes party authority and power to the county chairman, making local political parties into dictatorships instead of groups run by elected Precinct Chairs.
Please help us oppose House Bill (HB) 4636, which will remove the checks and balances provided by Precinct Chairs who represent local voters in political parties, placing party decisions in the hands of one person - the county chairman.
Background:
Do you like the dictatorial way our current president rules over his subjects, assuming the roles of all levels of government to push through the demands of his party? If you don’t, you need to speak up on this bill and speak loudly.
HB 4636 is authored by REPUBLICAN Representative Angela Orr of District 13, whose husband, William Orr, is also the County Republican Chairman for Hill County. Can you say ‘conflict of interest?’
With the passage of this bill, the county Republican Party will be in the hands of one person, the county chairman, essentially neutering the County Executive Committee and all our elected precinct chairmen.
Never mind that the Republican Party of Texas is a private organization and the State of Texas has no business telling us how we should manage our business.But here are some of the things this legislation proposes to do:
1. Give the County Chairman sole authority to call meetings and create agendas for meetings. If the Chairman does not want to something on the agenda or doesn’t want to call a requested meeting, he can simply refuse.
2. Give the County Chairman sole authority to fill County Executive Committee vacancies. No CEC participation required. No quorum required. No vote required. How simple.
3. Gives the County Chairman sole authority over ALL bank accounts, so that the CEC has no say in how party funds are used.
4. Gives the County Chairman authority to appoint ex-officio officers for officer vacancies. If the Chairman does not choose to put the election of officers on the agenda, he can keep his own appointed officers indefinitely.
Can you say ‘consolidation of power?’ This sort of shameless disdain for our party’s autonomy and for our elected system of government should be greeted with the same disdain that the RINO’s and Democrats have shown us.And one could only imagine if Soros-backed money were channeled into counties to get their favorites elected, as we have seen in DA offices across the country. Say goodbye to government by the people!
Make a powerful noise.
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Updates:
SB 2 - Passed the Senate, sitting in House Elections Committee since 04/10/23.
HB 4198 - Sitting in House Elections Committee, no movement.
SB 2 - Senator Bryan Hughes (SD 1) has submitted SB2, increasing the criminal penalty for illegal voting to a felony, which was haphazardly removed in 2021.
First, the bill clarifies the standard for illegal voting. Second, it returns the penalty for illegal voting from a misdemeanor to a second degree felony, which was the penalty prior to 2021. Co-authors of the bill include Montgomery County Senators Bettencourt, Creighton, and Kohlkorst, alongside Flores, Huffman, King, Middleton, Parker, Paston, Springer.
Thousands of delegates to the 2022 Republican State Convention, along with Montgomery County voters, are very concerned about election integrity which was voted as the number one Legislative Priority by convention delegates. If our elections are not secure, our whole system of government is in jeopardy.
An identical companion bill has been filed in the House, HB 4198, authored by Montgomery County Representative Steve Toth and assigned to the State Affairs Committee. Last session a similar bill was debated and not passed, and Speaker Phelan seems uninterested in pushing through on this priority.
If you have additional insight on this bill, please email MCRP Legislative Chair Bonnie Lyons at info@mctxgop.org. She’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
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Updates: Passed the Senate, referred to House Elections Committee on May 12.
SB 220 - Authored by Senator Bettencourt, co-authored by Senators Creighton and Hughes.
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Update: Passed the Senate, placed on House General State Calendar for 05/18, House postponed on 05/18.
SB 221 - Authored by Senator Bettencourt
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Update: Passed the Senate, sitting in House Elections Committee since 04/20/23.
SB 260 - Authored by Senator Kolkhorst, co-authored by Senator Bettencourt.
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Updates:
SB 397 - Passed the Senate, referred to House Elections Committee on 04/27/23.
SB 990 - Passed the Senate, referred to House Elections Committee on 04/25/23.
SB 1039 - Passed the Senate, House Elections Committee sent to Calendars on 05/19/23, placed on House General State Calendar for 05/23.
SB 1938 - Passed the Senate, referred to House Elections Committee on 04/28/23.
SB 1039 Bettencourt – Address election irregularities
SB 397 Hall – Requiring printing of tapes after EV close (Election Integrity Committee priority)
SB 990 Hall – Eliminating county wide polling places (Election Integrity Committee priority)
SB 1938 Bettencourt – Cleaning voter rolls (Election Integrity Committee priority)
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Update: Passed the Senate, sitting in House Elections Committee since 04/03/23.
SB 921 - Authored by Senator Bryan Hughes, this bill would ban ranked choice voting in Texas.
There has been a national movement to implement ranked choice voting in several states and localities across the country. To Sen. Hughes and leadership’s credit, they are being proactive in ensuring this method of voting is statutorily banned altogether in Texas.
Ranked choice voting is a confusing method of voting in which the voter ranks candidates in order of their preference. Often, winners are declared with less than 50% of the total ballots cast on election day as voters fail to properly mark second, third and fourth place choices and their votes end up being discarded from the election.
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Updates:
SB 924 - Left pending in committee on 05/04/23.
SB 1039 - Passed the Senate, House Elections Committee sent to Calendars on 05/19.
SB 1599 - Passed the Senate, House Committee on Elections reported favorably as substituted on 05/08.
SB 1911 - Left pending in committee on 05/04/23.
SB 924 - Consolidate certain precincts.
SB 1039 - Relating to processes to address election irregularities; providing a civil penalty. Authored by Senators Bettencourt and Hughes. Senator Kolkhorst is a coauthor.
SB 1599 - Relating to ballots voted by mail.
SB 1911 - Relating to election supplies and the conduct of elections; creating criminal offenses; increasing criminal penalties. Authored by Senator Bettencourt. Senator Creighton is a coauthor.
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UPDATE: All of these bills have passed the Senate.
SB 1039 - House Elections Committee sent to Calendars on 05/19, placed on House General State Calendar for 05/23.
SB 1907 - Referred to House Elections Committee on 04/18/23.
SB 1911 - Left pending in House Elections Committee on 05/04/23.
SB 1938 - Referred to House Elections Committee on 04/28/23.
SB 1950 - Referred to House Elections Committee on 04/18/23.
Original Post:
SB 1039 - Election irregularities occur in every election cycle. This bill would establish a civil administration review process to identify and remedy irregularities and improve access, security, processes, documentation, and accuracy with each election.
As examples, at one poll, all the seals were broken and the judge did nothing about it. And at a drop off, there were no chain of custody documents.
Under current law, election irregularities are mostly addressed if there is an election contest, which happens rarely. The result is irregularities that are identified by election judges, candidates, proponents/opponents of a measure, and party chairs are not always attended to, and create a lack of confidence in the system.
This is a Republican Party of Texas Priority Bill.
SB 1907 - This bill would provide added oversight to the collection of precinct returns. Due to inadequate training, some election judges did not return all of the correct information. People were sent to pick up the information and it was not delivered promptly. Therefore the count was not completed until 2 am.
The Secretary of State may supervise the activities necessary to complete the count, prepare the precinct returns and distribute the records. Currently, a district judge may impound the records. The bill would require that if a district judge impounds the election records, the judge would be required to supervise the activities.
SB 1911 - In Harris County in the November 2022 election, more than 120 of the over 780 Election Day polls were supplied with an insufficient amount of ballot paper. More than 29 polls were not able to get more ballots before they ran out of paper and voters were not able to vote.
In the same election, a temporary restraining order was issued to extend the time the polls were open until 8 pm. However, the election administrator’s office posted election results from early voting before 8:00 pm.
This bill would increase the penalty for:
The intentional failure to deliver election supplies timely from a Class C to a Class A misdemeanor;
Intentionally obstructing the distribution of election supplies for an election from a Class C misdemeanor to a state jail felony; and
Unlawfully revealing how a candidate or measure is doing or if a voter has or has not voted in an election before from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
SB 1938 - It is frustrating to those of us concerned about election integrity when registrars fail to remove from the rolls who have died, moved or otherwise become ineligible, setting up opportunities for voter fraud. Federal and state laws require that voter rolls be accurately and currently maintained.
In the last legislative session, SB 11113 was passed, requiring the Secretary of State to withhold Chapter 19 funds if a voter registrar fails to timely perform a duty regarding the approval, change, or cancellation of a voter's registration. This remedy was limited to the cancellation subchapter. SB 1938 would extend the ability of the Secretary of State to withhold Chapter 19 funds, if anywhere in the code, the voter registrar fails to timely perform a duty regarding the approval, change, or cancellation of voter registration.
SB 1950 - You can’t change the rules after the game is in play and you don’t get to follow only the laws you like. Sounds reasonable, right?
Under our election code, there are requirements for reviewing ballots from mail carrier envelopes by the Signature Verification Committee and the Early Voting Ballot Board. The requirements include:
Proper execution
The signature on the application or carrier envelope is determined to be executed by a person other than the voter
The application states a legal reason for voting by mail
A voter is registered to vote
If absentee voting, the address on the application is outside of the county
If a statement of residence was required, one is included
Address requirements are met
Identifying information on the carrier envelope identifies the same voter on the application
However, the Harris County Election Administrator instructed the Signature Verification Committee that they were not to verify the identification on the application to the voter records because the Election Administrator staff had already done that comparison.
Additionally, the Signature Verification Committee was instructed to compare the identification numbers between the application and the carrier envelope. They were instructed to not compare the signatures. After a call to the Secretary of State and approximately 700 carrier envelopes were reviewed, the Signature Verification Committee was instructed to follow the law as described above.
SB 1950 would require that the county clerk, elections administrator, early voting clerk, or early voting ballot board not suspend the requirements of the mail ballot review. It would create an offense for violation of this section, a Class A misdemeanor.
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Updates:
SB 1039 - Passed the Senate, House Elections Committee sent to Calendars on 05/19, placed on House General State Calendar for 05/23.
HB 2536 - Sitting in House Elections Committee. No movement or hearing.
SB 1933 - Passed the Senate, House Elections Committee reported favorably as substituted on 05/05/23, passed the House on 05/23/23, sent to Governor on 05/29/23.
HB 5131 - Placed on General State Calendar for 05/11.
SB 1911 - Left pending in House Elections Committee on 05/04/23.
SB 1907 - Passed the Senate, sitting in House Elections Committee since 04/18/23.
SB 1950 - Passed the Senate, sitting in House Elections Committee since 04/18/23.
SB 260 - Passed the Senate, referred to House Elections Committee on 04/20/23.
A whole string of election integrity legislation has passed through the Texas Senate and was referred to the House for action, but none of them are seeing any movement, so far.
After polling places in Houston famously failed to provide enough ballots for the 2022 elections, disenfranchising many voters, the problems with our elections systems would seem apparent.
SB 1039 creates a civil procedure that requires local election officials to respond to complaints about election irregularities. If officials fail to respond, complaints could be escalated to the secretary of state, who could order an audit or, in extreme circumstances, appoint a conservator to manage the local elections office. A companion HB 2536 by Representative Steve Toth awaits attention in the House Elections Committee.
SB 1911 increases the penalties for three offenses: intentionally failing to deliver election supplies to a polling place, obstructing distribution of election supplies, and revealing election results before polls close. This bill has no companion in the House.
SB 1933 authorizes the Secretary of State to conduct additional random election audits in smaller counties and, where recurring problems are identified, to order administrative oversight or state conservatorship of the county’s elections office. Current law prescribes audits every two years of two large and two small counties selected at random. HB 5131 is the companion bill in the House.
Two other Bettencourt bills passed the Senate on April 6 and have been awaiting action by the House since April 11:
-SB 1907 increases the criminal penalty for failing to deliver precinct election returns by the statutory deadline and allows the secretary of state’s office to supervise completion of the returns.
-SB 1950 prohibits an election official from suspending any mail-ballot acceptance requirements.
SB 260 Authored by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R–Brenham) and passed by the Senate, clarifies the process for county voter registrars to confirm the residence of voters who register at non-residential addresses or haven’t voted in the last two federal election cycles.
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SB 1846 by Creighton - Placed on General State Calendar for May 23. Prohibits a manufacturer of a voting system from entering contracts with companies/individuals in certain foreign countries.
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Update: Passed the Senate, referred to House State Affairs Committee on 04/17/23, placed on General State Calendar for 05/23.
If there is anything that should be transparent, it’s elections. But when Harris County botched their last election by failing to provide sufficient ballots, the Elections Administrators Office refused to turn over their records, using the litigation exception to the Texas Public Information Act to avoid producing election records.
Senator Bettencourt has produced a series of bills to address problems with Texas’ election systems and this latest one is simple and straightforward. This bill would not allow information related to a general, primary, or special election to be excepted from production under the exception of litigation under the Texas Public Information Act.
The bill has been referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
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We have all worked hard to get bills passed in this Texas Legislative Session, but none of it will matter if we cannot secure our elections.
A very important bill that would provide the only effective enforcement mechanism for our election system is in danger and we need your help.
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Update: Failed on 05/24/23.
SJR 35 by Birdwell - Placed on Constitutional Amendments Calendar for May 23. Proposes a Constitutional amendment clarifying that a voter must be a US citizen. Senator Bettencourt is a coauthor.
Click here to view bills filed by your state legislators during the 88th Texas Legislative Session, and to look up how your legislators voted on issues important to you.
Senator Brandon Creighton (SD 4)
(512) 463-0104 (Austin Office)
(281) 292-4128 (District Office)
Send an email
Senator Paul Bettencourt (SD 7)
(512) 463-0107 (Austin Office)
(713) 464-0282 (District Office)
Send an email
Senator Lois Kolkhorst (SD 18)
(512) 463-0118 (Austin Office)
(979) 251-7888 (District Office)
Send an email
Rep. Cecil Bell (HD 3)
(512) 463-0650 (Austin office)
(281) 259-3700 (District office)
Send an email
Rep. Steve Toth (HD 15)
(512) 463-0797 (Austin office)
(346) 220-0300 (District office)
Send an email
Rep. Will Metcalf (HD 16)
(512) 463-0726 (Austin office)
(936) 539-0068 (District office)
Send an email
Rep. Ernest Bailes (HD 18)
(512) 463-0570 (Austin office)
(936) 628-6687 (District office)
Send an email