Election Legislation Preview

 Just months after traveling to Pennsylvania to help the Trump campaign challenge the results of the 2020 election State Rep. Briscoe Cain was named chair of the Texas House Elections Committee. That appointment doesn’t give me a lot of confidence that we’ll see real improvement in our election laws. Nevertheless there are plenty of good bills that if passed would make it easier for eligible voters to register and vote. There may be others filed later in the session and it often happens that the text of a bill is added to another so even though the original bill isn’t passed its goal is achieved. The following are bills I found using the Texas Legislature Online website’s Bill Search function. Using that site you can lookup any of these that catch your attention and read the full text of the bill yourself as well as find new additions, amendments, or bill status as the session goes on. You can even create an account and arrange to get emails when a bill is assigned to a committee, gets a hearing, is amended or passed out of committee, or will be voted on in the House or Senate.

HB 110 would add to the existing list of acceptable proof of identification any official mail addressed to the person by name from a governmental entity or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter

HB 160 and SB 246 would add any identification card issued by a public institution of higher education located in this state that contains the person 's photograph, full legal name, and is either unexpired or expired no earlier than four years before the date of presentation.

HB 230 would greatly expand the types of documents that would be acceptable voter identification to include documents if they show the name and address of the voter including a copy of a current utility bill; a bank or credit union statement; a government check; a certified copy of a domestic birth certificate among others.

HB 1366 allows voter registration card as sufficient ID for voting, removes requirement for photo ID to vote even without registration card and allows substitution of utility bill or birth certificate etc.

HB 142 / HB 519 / HB 712 / HB 856 would all change state law to all same day voter registration so that new voters could register to vote on the same day they cast their ballots.

HB 161 / HB 595 / SB 107 would restore voting rights to felons once they are released from incarceration.

HB 583 / HB 802 / HB 1232 / SB 95 / SB 303 would allow voting by mail by any qualified voter.

HB 844 / HB 1385 would expressly legalize mail ballot drop off sites as designated by the county early voting clerk.

HB 1036 would create limits on campaign contributions for state office such as $7,000 for each candidate for governor; $5,500 for each candidate for a statewide office other than governor; $4,000 for each candidate for the senate; and $2,700 for each candidate for the house of representatives. Political Action Committees would be limited to $30,000 per year for each candidate or officeholder.

HB 1425 / SB 130 would have Texas join the National Popular Vote Compact which would mean that Texas’ presidential electors would cast their ballots for whoever won the national popular vote regardless of the result in Texas. Think President Al Gore in 2000, and President Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 10, 2021