2025 · Regular session · House bill
HB521
HB521 changes Texas curbside-voting procedures.
Official caption: Relating to accommodating voters with a disability; creating a criminal offense.
Official report lists House author(s): Guillen. This does not identify sponsors or amendment drafters.
Bill explanation published · Version and amendment review scope is stated below · Individual amendment records may not be separately annotated.
Bill highlights
Selected points from the published explanation. Follow each point to its source-linked context; conditions and limits may matter.
- HB521 changes Texas curbside-voting procedures.
- The law extends the existing loitering/electioneering restriction to within 20 feet of a designated curbside parking space and adds a 20-foot early-voting electioneering restriction.
- Officers must ask a person transporting a curbside voter whether that person has assisted seven or more curbside voters over early voting and election day.
- Curbside voter and transportation forms go to the secretary of state for retention and possible attorney-general inspection.
What does it do?
HB521 changes Texas curbside-voting procedures. A voter using the disability-based curbside provision must first sign a statement under penalty of perjury that the voter cannot enter without personal assistance or risk to health, or is requesting a reasonable accommodation under Election Code Section 1.022. When four or more election officers are present, two must deliver the ballot. Delivering a ballot does not itself authorize helping mark it: the separate voter-assistance rules still apply. A voter escorting a qualifying curbside voter can also request a ballot at the entrance or curb. Signed June 20, 2025, the law took effect September 1, 2025. Final law; history.
The law extends the existing loitering/electioneering restriction to within 20 feet of a designated curbside parking space and adds a 20-foot early-voting electioneering restriction. Signs must explain the electioneering prohibition in large lettering readable from a vehicle. Existing 100-foot entrance restrictions remain.
Officers must ask a person transporting a curbside voter whether that person has assisted seven or more curbside voters over early voting and election day. If the person indicates that threshold has been met, the person must sign the prescribed identification/assistance form. The old threshold concerned seven voters assisted simultaneously; the new one accumulates across the election period. The existing exception for specified close relatives remains. Intentionally failing to complete the required transportation form is a Class A misdemeanor, ordinarily punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine up to $4,000, or both. This new offense is not a blanket crime for every missing voter form. Full curbside provision and family exception; Class A punishment.
Curbside voter and transportation forms go to the secretary of state for retention and possible attorney-general inspection. Election officers who assist voters are no longer excluded from the separate assistant-identification form requirement. Within 30 days after the election, county clerks must report information about individuals who assisted seven or more voters. The secretary of state must prescribe forms/processes and adopt implementing rules. The law retains the right to request legally required reasonable accommodations. Accommodation provision.
What changed along the way?
The introduced bill proposed broader new Class A offenses concerning voter/assistant forms and election-officer assistance. The House substitute narrowed the new offense to the transportation form, added the 20-foot protections and two-officer rule, included reasonable-accommodation language in the oath, and replaced proposed assistant-form forwarding with county reporting. Those broader proposed offenses did not become law through HB521. Introduced; House substitute.
Four floor amendments were considered. Bucy and Guillen’s adopted House amendment changed the offense’s mental-state requirement from “knowingly” to “intentionally.” Paxton’s adopted Senate amendment required officers to ask transport providers about the seven-voter threshold. Zaffirini’s adopted amendment allowed an escorting voter to vote curbside. Menéndez proposed replacing the Class A penalty with a $550–$800 fine and 10 hours of community service; that amendment failed and is not the law. The House concurred in the Senate changes May 29. Amendment index; House amendment; Paxton; Zaffirini; Menéndez.
For the full amendment record, open the official amendment index.
Official bill versions
Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.
Who could benefit—and who could bear the costs?
Curbside voters gain a campaigning buffer, an express escort-voting option and a two-officer delivery rule at adequately staffed sites. Voters, volunteers and election workers face added forms, questions, training and reporting; qualifying transport providers face criminal exposure for intentional noncompliance. These requirements could add time to curbside service, but the sources do not quantify delays, participation effects or security benefits.
The latest indexed Legislative Budget Board note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact, including correctional/enforcement costs. Its description still refers to “several” new offenses for voters and officials; the enrolled text controls and is narrower, as explained above. A small expected public-budget effect does not mean no burden on individual voters or helpers. Latest fiscal note.
Official sources
- Bill history and latest recorded action
- Bill versions, analyses and fiscal notes
- Action history and votes
- Amendment index
Catalog report retrieved 2026-10-25. Check the official record for corrections or later changes.