WACO, Texas (KXXV) — On Thursday, more than a dozen new laws take effect here in the Lone Star State and two of them look to fight back against fraud.
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House Bill 20 is geared towards better protecting people that are impacted by natural disasters and organizations looking to help.
The bill establishes a voluntary vetting process in conjunction with the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Emergency Management that shows victims which organizations are actually legitimate and wanting to help.
Also, when boots are on the ground, a unique physical seal can be displayed by those organizations so victims and donors know that they can trust said organization.
HB 20 also raises the stakes for scammers with felony charges, thousands of dollars in fines and even prison time if caught.
Representative Pat Curry said these legislative actions come from a combination of this year's Central Texas floods, the panhandle fires and Hurricane Harvey.
“And it really should have been done in the previous session after Harvey,” Rep. Curry added.
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“This is an ongoing problem and scammers are always gonna try to figure out a way to get around the law and so the lawmakers are always trying to figure out ways to fix the law to keep the scammers from getting around it," Rep. Curry added. "It’s just a never ending process.”
To read more on HB 20 click here.
Also when speaking of Texas’ Attorney General, SB 12 now allows that office to tighten up on voter fraud in the state.
“So there’s lots of counties especially some of the larger counties where the DA would not prosecute election fraud, so voter fraud," Rep. Curry said. "They knew about cases, cases were brought up and they wouldn't prosecute it because it was local and could have been a friend of theirs."
Rep. Curry referred to SB 12 as a clean up law, or a clarifying law, when it comes to voter fraud in our state.
“Because the Attorney General tried to go prosecute for election fraud, the Texas Attorney General, and was rebuked because of the way the laws were written and so this clarified that law and said that the Attorney General now can prosecute election fraud cases throughout the state.” Rep. Curry added.
To read more on SB 12 click here.
