HB 3517

relating to the prosecution of the criminal offense of unlawfully
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1.  Section 61.006, Election Code, is amended to
Sec. 61.006.  UNLAWFULLY PUBLISHING [DIVULGING] VOTE.  (a)
(1)  "Effective consent" means consent by a person
legally authorized to act for the voter.  Consent is not effective
(A)  induced by force, threat, or fraud;
(B)  given by a person the actor knows is not
legally authorized to act for the voter;
(C)  given by a person who by reason of youth,
mental disease or defect, or intoxication is known by the actor to
be unable to make reasonable decisions; or
(D)  given solely to detect the commission of an
(2)  "Publish" means to communicate information or make
information available to another person orally, in writing, or by
means of telecommunication or electronic communication.
(a-1)  A person commits an offense if the person [was in a
polling place for any purpose other than voting and] knowingly
publishes [communicates to another person information that the
person obtained at the polling place about] how a voter has voted
without the effective consent of the voter.
(b)  An offense under this section is a felony of the third
(c)  It is an exception to prosecution under this section
that the person published the voter's voting [This section does not
(1)  [presented in] an official investigation to which
the information was relevant; or
(2)  an administrative, executive, legislative, or
judicial proceeding conducted before a public servant and to [other
official proceeding in] which the information was [is] relevant,
including during the administration of an election.
SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred
SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.