H.B. No. 162
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to electioneering at a county courthouse during early
    1-3  voting.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 85.036, Election Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 85.036.  ELECTIONEERING PROHIBITED.  (a)  Except as
    1-8  provided by Subsection (b), during  <During> the time an early
    1-9  voting polling place is open for the conduct of early voting, a
   1-10  person may not electioneer for or against any candidate, measure,
   1-11  or political party in or within a certain distance from the
   1-12  building or structure in which the early voting polling place is
   1-13  located, as follows:
   1-14              (1)  for a building containing the main early voting
   1-15  polling place, a person may not electioneer in the room in which
   1-16  the polling place is located or within 30 feet of the entrance to
   1-17  the room in which the polling place is located;
   1-18              (2)  for a building that is also used as a precinct
   1-19  polling place, a person may not electioneer within 100 feet of an
   1-20  outside door through which a voter may enter the building in which
   1-21  the polling place is located; and
   1-22              (3)  for any other structure, a person may not
   1-23  electioneer within  30 feet of the entrance to the voting area.
   1-24        (b)  For a county courthouse, subcourthouse, or courthouse
    2-1  annex, a person may not electioneer in the building or within 30
    2-2  feet of an outside door through which a voter may enter the
    2-3  building in which the polling place is located if the commissioners
    2-4  court issues an order to that effect.  The order must be recorded
    2-5  in the commissioners court's minutes not later than the 10th day
    2-6  before the date early voting is to be conducted in the building.
    2-7        (c) <(b)>  During the early voting period, the early voting
    2-8  clerk shall keep continuously posted:
    2-9              (1)  at the entrance to the room or area, as
   2-10  applicable, in which the early voting polling place is located, a
   2-11  sign on which is printed in large letters "Early Voting Polling
   2-12  Place"; and
   2-13              (2)  at the outer limits of the area within which
   2-14  electioneering is prohibited, a sign on which is printed in large
   2-15  letters "Distance Marker.  No electioneering between this point and
   2-16  the entrance to the early voting polling place."
   2-17        (d) <(c)>  A person commits an offense if the person
   2-18  electioneers in violation of Subsection (a) or (b).
   2-19        (e) <(d)>  An offense under this section is a Class C
   2-20  misdemeanor.
   2-21        (f) <(e)>  Sections 61.003 and 61.004 do not apply to early
   2-22  voting polling places.
   2-23        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-26  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.