Relating to election supplies and the conduct of elections; creating criminal offenses; increasing criminal penalties.
CriticalImmediate action required
Low Cost
Effective:2025-09-01
Enforcing Agencies
County and District Attorneys • Texas Secretary of State (Elections Division) • Local Law Enforcement
01
Compliance Analysis
Key implementation requirements and action items for compliance with this legislation
Implementation Timeline
Effective Date: September 1, 2025
Compliance Deadline:August 1, 2025 (Contracts and logistics workflows must be updated prior to the November 2025 election cycle).
Agency Rulemaking: While no specific rulemaking deadline is set, the Secretary of State will likely issue advisories defining "promptly" and "obstruction" prior to the November 2025 election. The period between Sept 1, 2025, and the first SOS advisory is a high-risk regulatory gray zone.
Immediate Action Plan
1.Audit Contracts: Identify all active agreements with Texas County Elections Administrators and flag undefined service level timelines.
2.Establish "Statutory Floor" Protocols: Program order management systems to flag any county order that falls below the "Historical Turnout + 25%" threshold.
3.Update Employee Handbooks: Issue a specific legal warning to employees taking civic leave for poll work regarding the new felony status of information leaks.
4.Secure Written Instructions: Implement a policy requiring written confirmation from County officials if they order *less* than the statutory requirement, to shield the vendor from liability.
Operational Changes Required
Contracts
Master Service Agreements (MSAs): Vendors serving County Elections Departments must amend MSAs to define "promptly supplement" in specific hours/minutes. Do not accept the statutory vagueness.
Indemnification: Review clauses immediately. Standard civil indemnification will not protect vendors against the new criminal penalties. Limit civil liability to instances where the vendor failed to meet the *statutory* count (Turnout + 25%), not arbitrary county estimates.
Force Majeure: Strengthen clauses to explicitly cover supply chain shortages (e.g., paper availability) to counter potential claims of "intentional" failure to supply.
Hiring/Training
Logistics Staff: Delivery drivers and dispatchers require training on the new "Emergency Response" workflow. "Next day delivery" is no longer acceptable for ballot supplementation; it creates criminal exposure.
Corporate Poll Workers: Companies with employees serving as Election Judges must update training/handbooks. Unlawfully revealing election info (e.g., early tallies) is now a State Jail Felony. Zero-tolerance policies for social media use while on civic leave are required.
Reporting & Record-Keeping
The "Safe Harbor" Calculation: Before fulfilling any order, generate and archive a report comparing the County’s order quantity against the statutory formula (Historical Turnout + 25%).
Chain of Custody: Implement GPS-verified, timestamped logs for all supplemental ballot requests. You must be able to prove the exact minute a request was received and fulfilled to defend against "failure to promptly supplement" charges.
Fees & Costs
Insurance Review: Standard Professional Liability (E&O) policies exclude criminal acts. Consult your broker regarding coverage gaps for defense costs, as this law criminalizes operational negligence.
Logistics Overhead: Budget for standby drivers and vehicles on Election Day to meet the "prompt" requirement.
Strategic Ambiguities & Considerations
Definition of "Promptly": The statute criminalizes failure to "promptly supplement" ballots but fails to define the timeframe. This leaves enforcement to the discretion of local District Attorneys.
"Intentional" vs. "Negligent": The statute targets "intentional" acts. However, in a supply shortage, a prosecutor may argue that fulfilling County A's order over County B's constitutes an *intentional* failure regarding County B.
Obstruction Threshold: The upgrade of "obstruction" to a State Jail Felony is broad. It is unclear if administrative delays or billing disputes that halt delivery could be prosecuted as criminal obstruction.
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Information presented is for general knowledge only and is provided without warranty, express or implied. Consult qualified government affairs professionals and legal counsel before making compliance decisions.
The secretary of state's 2021-2022 Comprehensive Election Audit Report found that "Harris County failed to supply adequate amounts of ballot paper to polling locations for the November 8, 2022, general election." H.B. 1661 seeks to mitigate this issue by establishing specific requirements for providing ballots to an election precinct, creating new offenses for intentionally failing to supply or supplement ballots to a polling place, and enhancing penalties for intentional failures to comply with state law relating to the distribution of election supplies and revealing election information before polls close.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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. 1661 amends the Election Code to create a Class A misdemeanor offense for an authority responsible for procuring the election supplies for an election who does the following:
·intentionally fails to provide an election precinct with the required number of ballots; or
·intentionally fails to promptly supplement the distributed ballots upon request by a polling place.
The bill exempts a county who participates in the countywide polling place program from the prohibition against the number of ballots provided to an election precinct for an election exceeding the total number of registered voters in the precinct.
H.B. 1661 increases the penalties for the following offenses:
·for the offense of intentionally failing to timely distribute or deliver election supplies, from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor;
·for the offense of intentionally obstructing the distribution of election supplies, from a Class C misdemeanor to a state jail felony; and
·for the offense of unlawfully revealing election information before polls close, from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
These penalty increases apply only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. An offense committed before the bill's effective date 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 these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
Honorable Matt Shaheen, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1661 by Vasut (Relating to election supplies and the conduct of elections; creating criminal offenses; increasing criminal penalties.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would create two Class A misdemeanor offenses applicable to the authority responsible for procuring election supplies for failure to provide a certain number of ballots and failure to supplement distributed ballots. The bill would increase the penalty for the offense of failure to distribute or deliver supplies from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor, the penalty for the offense of obstructing distribution of supplies from a Class C misdemeanor to a state jail felony, and the penalty for the offense of unlawfully revealing information before polls close from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
It is assumed that any fiscal impact and any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.
Local Government Impact
It is assumed that any fiscal impact to units of local government associated with enforcement, prosecution, supervision, or confinement would not be significant.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 307 Secretary of State
LBB Staff:
JMc, FV, DGI, MGol, WP, QH
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HB1661 criminalizes election supply chain failures, converting administrative logistics errors regarding ballot counts and delivery into Class A Misdemeanors and State Jail Felonies. This legislation fundamentally alters the liability landscape for election services vendors, logistics providers, and corporate employers of poll workers by mandating strict inventory floors (historical turnout + 25%) and undefined "prompt" resupply protocols. Implementation Timeline Effective Date: September 1, 2025 Compliance Deadline: August 1, 2025 (Contracts and logistics workflows must be updated prior to the November 2025 election cycle).
Q
Who authored HB1661?
HB1661 was authored by Texas Representative Cody Vasut during the Regular Session.
Q
When was HB1661 signed into law?
HB1661 was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025.
Q
Which agencies enforce HB1661?
HB1661 is enforced by County and District Attorneys, Texas Secretary of State (Elections Division) and Local Law Enforcement.
Q
How urgent is compliance with HB1661?
The compliance urgency for HB1661 is rated as "critical". Businesses and organizations should review the requirements and timeline to ensure timely compliance.
Q
What is the cost impact of HB1661?
The cost impact of HB1661 is estimated as "low". This may vary based on industry and implementation requirements.
Q
What topics does HB1661 address?
HB1661 addresses topics including crimes, crimes--miscellaneous, elections, elections--administration and elections--registration & suffrage.
Legislative data provided by LegiScanLast updated: November 25, 2025
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