Relating to the penalty for the crime of election fraud; increasing a criminal penalty.
CriticalImmediate action required
Low Cost
Effective:2025-09-01
Enforcing Agencies
Texas District Attorneys • Texas Attorney General (concurrent jurisdiction where applicable) • 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 31, 2025 (All internal protocols must be active before the effective date; offenses committed on or after Sept 1 trigger felony penalties).
Agency Rulemaking: None required. This is a Penal Code change enforced by prosecutors. Do not await administrative guidance; the statute is the final authority.
Immediate Action Plan
1.Audit Insurance Policies: Confirm coverage limits regarding criminal defense and exclusions for intentional acts.
2.Issue "Stop Work" Orders: Halt any voter assistance programs (GOTV, nursing home assistance) effective August 15, 2025, until new protocols are verified.
3.Retrain Staff: Conduct mandatory training for HR, Government Affairs, and healthcare staff on the new felony risks by July 31, 2025.
4.Update Vendor MSAs: Send contract addendums to all political vendors requiring acknowledgment of HB5115.
5.Segregate Roles: Identify employees who are also elected officials and implement firewalls between their corporate work and public office duties.
Operational Changes Required
Contracts
Vendor Indemnification: Review Master Services Agreements (MSAs) with political consultants, canvassing firms, and logistics vendors. Require certification of HB5115 compliance.
Termination Clauses: Update employment and vendor contracts to define "indictment under the Texas Election Code" as immediate grounds for termination for cause to mitigate organizational reputational risk.
Elected Official Carve-outs: If you employ individuals who serve on local boards (school, city, county), amend their contracts to strictly separate their public duties from corporate resources to avoid First Degree Felony exposure.
Hiring/Training
Mandatory Scripting: Staff at long-term care facilities or HR departments running voter drives must use rigid, pre-approved scripts when assisting with mail-in ballot applications. Improvisation is now a liability.
Segregation of Duties: Implement a "two-person rule" for handling any election materials. One person collects, a different person verifies. This creates an operational defense against claims of "knowing" fraud.
Training Logs: You must document that all relevant employees have been trained on the new felony standards. This documentation is your primary defense against organizational negligence claims.
Reporting & Record-Keeping
Chain of Custody: Establish a logged chain of custody for any physical ballot applications handled by your organization.
Incident Reporting: Create a distinct internal channel for reporting election irregularities. Reports must be escalated immediately to Legal Counsel, not HR.
Fees & Costs
Insurance Gaps:Critical Financial Risk. Review D&O and E&O policies immediately. Most policies exclude coverage for criminal acts. Since these violations are now felonies, defense costs may not be covered once an indictment is issued.
Litigation Reserves: Organizations heavily involved in political activity should increase legal reserves for potential criminal defense retainers, which are significantly higher for felonies than misdemeanors.
Strategic Ambiguities & Considerations
"Influence the Independent Exercise of the Vote": This statutory language (Sec. 276.013) is broad. It is unclear where "advocacy" ends and criminal "influence" begins, particularly for nursing home staff or corporate managers advising employees. Assume a broad prosecutorial interpretation until case law is established.
"False Pretenses": The law penalizes causing a voter to register under "false pretenses." It is undefined whether omitting information counts as a false pretense.
Intent Standard: While the law requires "knowing" or "intentional" conduct, administrative errors in high-volume environments (e.g., mass voter registration) are often scrutinized as fraud. The line between "clerical error" and "felony" is now determined by prosecutorial discretion.
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Under current law, the offense of illegal voting is a second degree felony, but an election fraud offense is only a Class A misdemeanor or, if the actor was acting in their capacity as an elected official, a state jail felony. The bill author has informed the committee that election fraud is a serious offense, and the punishment should be consistent with the punishment for other election-related violations. H.B. 5115 seeks to address this issue by providing for penalty increases for the offense of election fraud.
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. 5115 amends the Election Code to expand the conduct that constitutes the offense of election fraud to include knowingly or intentionally making any effort to do the following:
·count votes the person knows are invalid or alter a report to include votes the person knows are invalid; or
·refuse to count votes the person knows are valid or alter a report to exclude votes the person knows are valid.
The bill repeals provisions providing for a separate second degree felony offense for a person who knowingly or intentionally engages in such conduct.
H.B. 5115 increases the following penalties:
·for a person who commits election fraud, from a Class A misdemeanor to a second degree felony;
·for a person who commits election fraud while acting in the person's capacity as an elected official, from a state jail felony to a first degree felony; and
·for a person who is convicted of an election fraud attempt, from a Class B misdemeanor to a third degree felony.
The bill repeals provisions increasing an election fraud offense to the next higher category of offense for a defendant who was previously convicted of an offense under the Election Code or who committed another election fraud offense in the same election or for an offense involving certain voters 65 years of age or older.
H.B. 5115 applies 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 when 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.
H.B. 5115 repeals Section 276.013(c) and Section 276.014, Election Code.
Honorable Matt Shaheen, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB5115 by Shaheen (Relating to the penalty for the crime of election fraud; increasing a criminal penalty.), As Introduced
The bill would expand conduct constituting and increase penalties for the offense of election fraud. 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
LBB Staff:
JMc, FV, DGI, WP, AMr
Related Legislation
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HB5115 fundamentally alters the risk landscape for election-related activities by elevating violations from misdemeanors to Second Degree Felonies (2–20 years imprisonment) and First Degree Felonies for elected officials. This change imposes severe criminal liability on healthcare facilities assisting voters, corporate government affairs teams, and third-party political vendors, necessitating immediate updates to compliance protocols to prevent inadvertent felonies. Implementation Timeline Effective Date: September 1, 2025 Compliance Deadline: August 31, 2025 (All internal protocols must be active before the effective date; offenses committed on or after Sept 1 trigger felony penalties).
Q
Who authored HB5115?
HB5115 was authored by Texas Representative Matthew Shaheen during the Regular Session.
Q
When was HB5115 signed into law?
HB5115 was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 20, 2025.
Q
Which agencies enforce HB5115?
HB5115 is enforced by Texas District Attorneys, Texas Attorney General (concurrent jurisdiction where applicable) and Local Law Enforcement.
Q
How urgent is compliance with HB5115?
The compliance urgency for HB5115 is rated as "critical". Businesses and organizations should review the requirements and timeline to ensure timely compliance.
Q
What is the cost impact of HB5115?
The cost impact of HB5115 is estimated as "low". This may vary based on industry and implementation requirements.
Q
What topics does HB5115 address?
HB5115 addresses topics including crimes, crimes--miscellaneous, elections, elections--general and fraud.
Legislative data provided by LegiScanLast updated: November 25, 2025
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