BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3055

By: Pena

Elections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law provides a penalty for those who knowingly provide false information on a mail-in ballot application.  It is a lesser offense if the individual who falsifies the information is the applicant, is a relative of the applicant, or lives at the same address as the applicant. 

H.B. 3055 would provide the same penalty for any person who knowingly provides false information on a mail-in ballot, regardless of the person's relationship to the applicant.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3055 amends the Election Code to remove an exception to the state jail felony offense of providing false information on an application for an early voting ballot that makes such an offense a Class A misdemeanor for the applicant, a person who is related to the applicant within the second degree by affinity or the third degree by consanguinity, or a person who is registered to vote at the same address as the applicant.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2011