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A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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AN ACT
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relating to changing the criminal offense of conspiracy to |
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circumvent the open meetings law. |
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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SECTION 1. Section 551.143(a), Government Code, is amended |
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to read as follows: |
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Sec. 551.143. PROHIBITED SERIES OF COMMUNICATIONS |
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[CONSPIRACY TO CIRCUMVENT CHAPTER]; OFFENSE; PENALTY. (a) A |
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member [or group of members] of a governmental body commits an |
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offense if: |
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(1) the member [or group of members] knowingly engages |
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in at least one among a series of communications that each occur |
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outside of an open meeting concerning any public business of the |
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governmental body where individual communications are among fewer |
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than a quorum of members; and [conspires to circumvent this chapter
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by meeting in numbers less than a quorum for the purpose of secret
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deliberations in violation of this chapter] |
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(2) the member knew at the time the member engaged in |
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the series of communications that the series: |
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(A) involved or would involve a quorum and, |
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(B) would constitute a deliberation in violation |
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of this chapter if the series of communications had occurred in a |
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single instance among every member involved in the series. |
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SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. |
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An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is |
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governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, |
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and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
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purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the |
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effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred |
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before that date. |
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SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
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a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
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provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
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Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
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Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |