{"id":221,"date":"2023-04-13T06:30:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T06:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans\/"},"modified":"2023-04-13T06:30:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T06:30:04","slug":"today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press\/today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans\/","title":{"rendered":"TODAY at 10:30 a.m. CT: Hearing on Texas Bill that Will Criminalize Voting for Vulnerable Texans"},"template":"","class_list":["post-221","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Texas lawmakers will hear House Bill 1243, a dangerous elections bill that would increase the criminal penalty of voting violations from a misdemeanor to a second-degree felony, which can carry a punishment of two to 20 years in state prison.\r\n","featured_image":"","press_type":153,"authors":[null],"related_issues":[117,406],"related_work":false,"location":52},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"AUSTIN\u2014 <\/span>Today, Thursday, April 13 at 10:30 a.m. CT,<\/b> Texas lawmakers will hear <\/span>House Bill 1243<\/span><\/a>, a dangerous elections bill that would <\/span>increase the criminal penalty of voting violations from a misdemeanor to a second-degree felony, which can carry a punishment of two to 20 years in state prison.<\/span>\r\n\r\nVoters of color are most likely to be ensnared in this push to criminalize voting, given how the state\u2019s criminal justice systems already disproportionately punish and discriminate against Black and Latino Texans.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nCommon Cause Texas will provide in-person testimony at the hearing, which will be held at the Texas Capitol Extension in room E2.016. To livestream the House Elections Committee hearing, click <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn addition, the Texas Senate is slated to vote on several harmful election bills Thursday, including <\/span>Senate Bill 260<\/span><\/a> which will enable more voter roll purges, and <\/span>Senate Bill 1911<\/span><\/a> which creates new threats and penalties for election administrators \u2013 risking being jailed on a felony if they\u2019re stuck in traffic and late to deliver election supplies.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cTexas lawmakers are deliberately trying to inject fear into the voting process and suppress the vote, and it will be Black and Brown Texans who end up paying the price,\u201d said Katya Ehresman, Common Cause Texas\u2019 voting rights program manager. \u201cThis is shameful discrimination in its rawest form. This bill needs to be stopped so that every voter can exercise their constitutional right to vote without intimidation. With less than 50 days left in the regular session, it is disappointing to see lawmakers continue to hear discriminatory and dangerous bills rather than bipartisan, commonsense reforms that would help the millions of eligible Texans who have missed past elections be empowered to cast their ballot.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nKatya Ehresman will be available for one-on-one interviews following her testimony and can speak to House Bill 1243 and other pieces of election-related legislation.\u00a0 <\/span>"}}]},"yoast_head":"\nTODAY at 10:30 a.m. CT: Hearing on Texas Bill that Will Criminalize Voting for Vulnerable Texans - Common Cause Texas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TODAY at 10:30 a.m. CT: Hearing on Texas Bill that Will Criminalize Voting for Vulnerable Texans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press\/today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Texas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/today-at-1030-a-m-ct-hearing-on-texas-bill-that-will-criminalize-voting-for-vulnerable-texans\/\",\"name\":\"TODAY at 10:30 a.m. CT: Hearing on Texas Bill that Will Criminalize Voting for Vulnerable Texans - 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