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Texas Legislature· SB 1540Effective on 9/1/25

Relating to maintaining the confidentiality of the personal information of election officials and their employees, the official text

Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official page posted by the Texas Legislature, fetched 2026-08-29. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official page appears here in brackets. This is the enrolled version. The official bill page.
S.B. No. 1540

AN ACT

relating to maintaining the confidentiality of the personal

information of election officials and their employees.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 1.005(4-a), Election Code, is amended to

read as follows:

(4-a) "Election official" means:

(A) a county clerk;

(B) a permanent or temporary deputy county clerk;

(C) an elections administrator;

(D) a permanent or temporary employee of an

elections administrator;

(E) an election judge;

(F) an alternate election judge;

(G) an early voting clerk;

(H) a deputy early voting clerk;

(I) an election clerk;

(J) the presiding judge of an early voting ballot

board;

(K) the alternate presiding judge of an early

voting ballot board;

(L) a member of an early voting ballot board;

(M) the chair of a signature verification

committee;

(N) the vice chair of a signature verification

committee;

(O) a member of a signature verification

committee;

(P) the presiding judge of a central counting

station;

(Q) the alternate presiding judge of a central

counting station;

(R) a central counting station manager;

(S) a central counting station clerk;

(T) a tabulation supervisor;

(U) an assistant to a tabulation supervisor;

[and]

(V) a chair of a county political party holding a

primary election or a runoff primary election; and

(W) the chair of a state executive committee of a

political party that nominates by primary election under Subtitle

B, Title 10.

SECTION 2. Section 552.1175(a), Government Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(a) This section applies only to:

(1) current or honorably retired peace officers as

defined by Article 2A.001, Code of Criminal Procedure, or special

investigators as described by Article 2A.002, Code of Criminal

Procedure;

(2) current or honorably retired county jailers as

defined by Section 1701.001, Occupations Code;

(3) current or former employees of the Texas

Department of Criminal Justice or of the predecessor in function of

the department or any division of the department;

(4) commissioned security officers as defined by

Section 1702.002, Occupations Code;

(5) a current or former district attorney, criminal

district attorney, or county or municipal attorney whose

jurisdiction includes any criminal law or child protective services

matters;

(5-a) a current or former employee of a district

attorney, criminal district attorney, or county or municipal

attorney whose jurisdiction includes any criminal law or child

protective services matters;

(6) officers and employees of a community supervision

and corrections department established under Chapter 76 who perform

a duty described by Section 76.004(b);

(7) criminal investigators of the United States as

described by Article 2A.002(a), Code of Criminal Procedure;

(8) current or honorably retired police officers and

inspectors of the United States Federal Protective Service;

(9) current and former employees of the office of the

attorney general who are or were assigned to a division of that

office the duties of which involve law enforcement or are performed

under Chapter 231, Family Code;

(10) current or former juvenile probation and

detention officers certified by the Texas Juvenile Justice

Department, or the predecessors in function of the department,

under Title 12, Human Resources Code;

(11) current or former employees of a juvenile justice

program or facility, as those terms are defined by Section 261.405,

Family Code;

(12) current or former employees of the Texas Juvenile

Justice Department or the predecessors in function of the

department;

(13) federal judges and state judges as defined by

Section 1.005, Election Code;

(14) current or former employees of the Texas Civil

Commitment Office or of the predecessor in function of the office or

a division of the office;

(15) a current or former member of the United States

Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps, an auxiliary

service of one of those branches of the armed forces, or the Texas

military forces, as that term is defined by Section 437.001;

(16) a current or former child protective services

caseworker, adult protective services caseworker, or investigator

for the Department of Family and Protective Services or a current or

former employee of a department contractor performing child

protective services caseworker, adult protective services

caseworker, or investigator functions for the contractor on behalf

of the department;

(17) an elected public officer;

(18) a firefighter or volunteer firefighter or

emergency medical services personnel as defined by Section 773.003,

Health and Safety Code; [and]

(19) a current or former United States attorney,

assistant United States attorney, federal public defender, deputy

federal public defender, or assistant federal public defender; or

(20) a current or former election official, as defined

by Section 1.005, Election Code, or employee, volunteer, or

designee of an election official, or an employee of the secretary of

state's office who performs duties relating to elections.

SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to

a request for information that is received by a governmental body or

an officer on or after the effective date of this Act. A request for

information that was received before the effective date of this Act

is governed by the law in effect on the date the request was

received, and the former law is continued in effect for that

purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1540 passed the Senate on

May 1, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; May 29, 2025,

Senate refused to concur in House amendments and requested

appointment of Conference Committee; May 31, 2025, House granted

request of the Senate; May 31, 2025, Senate adopted Conference

Committee Report by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1540 passed the House, with

amendments, on May 28, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 134,

Nays 1, three present not voting; May 31, 2025, House granted

request of the Senate for appointment of Conference Committee;

June 1, 2025, House adopted Conference Committee Report by the

following vote: Yeas 128, Nays 9, two present not voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

Approved:

______________________________

Date

______________________________

Governor
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