Senate files bill to protect elections with companion bill from Rep. Toth in the House
March 19, 2023 | Austin, TX
The legislative session is moving rapidly, as bill filing ended March 10 with 9,114 bills filed in the House and Senate. The Senate has already moved Senate Bill 2, an important bill relating to election integrity, out of committee.
SB 2, filed by Senator Bryan Hughes (SD 1) with Senators Paul Bettencourt (SD 7), Brandon Creighton (SD 4), and Lois Kolkhorst (SD 18) as co-authors, is a Republican Party of Texas priority bill that restores the penalty for voter fraud from a misdemeanor to a felony. Illegal voting was classified as a felony under Texas law for almost 50 years until it was reduced to a misdemeanor last session.
Representative Steve Toth (HD 15) filed a companion bill in the House, HB 4198. Representative Toth has filed two other bills that are included on the Republican Party of Texas’s list of priority bills for Securing Our Elections: HB 589 and HB 2536.
Senator Bettencourt also filed SB 823 and SB 1039, the companion bill to Representative Toth’s HB 2536.
Other Republican Party of Texas priority bills for Securing Our Elections are found here. Protect our Elections is a Legislative Priority for the Republican Party of Texas.