Committee approves bill to increase penalties for illegal voting in Texas
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – A new bill to stiffen penalties for illegal voting in Texas has been approved by a Senate committee and sent to the full Senate.
The State Affairs Committee approved Senate Bill 2 by a 7-3 vote Monday afternoon. The legislation is one of the top priorities of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Under SB 2, Texas would increase the penalty for illegal voting from a Class A misdemeanor back to a second-degree felony, the way it was before it was changed two years ago.
The author of the bill, Commitee Chair Senator Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said during a hearing at the Capitol the legislation would also remove the requirement that a person knows that it's a crime for them to vote. "Ignorance of the law is not a defense. On SB 2, if you are a felon and you know you are a felon, you don't also have to know it's illegal for felons to vote."
Hughes' proposal comes in response to the high-profile case surrounding Crystal Mason of Tarrant County.
Last year, the state's highest criminal court, the Criminal Court of Appeals, ruled that a lower appeals court was wrong after failing to require proof that Mason actually knew it was a crime for her to vote while she was on supervised release after serving time in federal prison for tax fraud.
Mason has maintained she didn't know she was ineligible to vote.
During the hearing, the President of the Texas NAACP, Gary Bledsoe, opposed the new bill. "This bill should not be discussed as simply as a matter of good or bad public policy but instead should be discussed as a clear, and overt manifestation of racial bias."
In response, Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston and co-author of the SB 2 said, "When the NAACP says something like that, I will respond to it. Because there is simply no fact or supposition of fact that this exists in this bill. This bill is to restore what was a penalty what was there prior, and it has absolutely no racial component whatsoever."
One of Mason's attorneys, Emily French, gave testimony at the hearing and said the legislation could have serious consequences. "Instead of one innocent victim like Crystal Mason, there could be hundreds, even thousands."
At a separate Senate hearing Monday morning, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson went before the Nominations Committee and testified about elections that her department helps oversee. "My goals are quite simple and that is to have the most transparent, fair, accurate election that we can have."
Nelson wouldn't give her opinions on any voting bills being considered by lawmakers, saying that's not her role now.
Monday's committee hearing is a first step in her confirmation process.
The full Senate must approve her nomination by Governor Greg Abbott, which is very likely after she served 30 years in the Senate.
