LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT STATEMENT
 
85TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
April 23, 2017

TO:
Honorable Jodie Laubenberg, Chair, House Committee on Elections
 
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB3686 by Swanson (Relating to the acceptance of a voter at a polling place; creating an offense; increasing a criminal penalty.), As Introduced

The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Election Code to add additional grounds for and increase the potential penalty for unlawfully accepting a voter. Under the provisions of the bill, it would be a misdemeanor offense for an election officer to permit an ineligible person to vote who is not on a voter precinct list but provides certain documentation. The bill also would increase the penalty for unlawfully accepting a voter under these circumstances to a state jail felony if it was shown at trial the election official had committed three or more instances of the specific offense previously.
 
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years or Class A misdemeanor punishment. In addition to confinement, state jail felonies are also subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
 
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a felony penalty is applied is expected to result in increased demands on the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement within state correctional institutions. This analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on the demand for state correctional resources.


Source Agencies:
LBB Staff:
UP, LM, AKU