---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relating to the duty of the attorney general to prosecute criminal offenses prescribed by the election laws of this state."
description: "Relating to the duty of the attorney general to prosecute criminal offenses prescribed by the election laws of this state."
jurisdiction: "us/states/tx"
legislature: "Texas Legislature"
session: "892"
identifier: "SB 12"
citation: "Texas SB 12 (892)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ATTORNEY GENERAL (V2811)", "Courts--District (I0120)", "Courts--Prosecuting Attorneys (I0165)", "Crimes--Against Persons--General (I0170)", "Criminal Procedure--General (I0208)", "Elections--General (I0310)", "Ethics (I0345)", "Law Enforcement (I0510)"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bettencourt", "Campbell", "Creighton", "Hagenbuch", "Hall", "Hinojosa, Adam", "Huffman", "Hughes", "King", "Middleton", "Parker", "Paxton", "Perry", "Schwertner", "Shaheen", "Sparks"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 51
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2025-08-15"
last_action: "2025-09-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/68e9b73c-d3c5-464c-87b2-cf5da0c1626c"
source_url: "ftp://ftp.legis.state.tx.us/bills/892/billhistory/senate_bills/SB00001_SB00099/SB 12.xml"
source_hash: "77005cad898e2d9ff002445fb09730822e2eea51990d17c1ebbe542b815125b3"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-tx"]
---

# Texas SB 12 (892) — Relating to the duty of the attorney general to prosecute criminal offenses prescribed by the election laws of this state.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/892/billtext/html/SB00012I.HTM)
2. **Engrossed** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/892/billtext/html/SB00012E.HTM)
3. **House Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/892/billtext/html/SB00012H.HTM)
4. **Senate Committee Report** (committee substitute) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/892/billtext/html/SB00012S.HTM)
5. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](http://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/892/billtext/html/SB00012F.HTM)

## Votes

- other — **54–84** (fail) · lower
- passage — **18–12** (pass) · upper
- passage — **85–54** (pass) · lower
- passage — **94–40** (pass) · lower
- passage — **85–54** (pass) · lower
- passage — **18–12** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bettencourt — primary (person)
- Campbell — primary (person)
- Creighton — primary (person)
- Hagenbuch — primary (person)
- Hall — primary (person)
- Hinojosa, Adam — primary (person)
- Huffman — primary (person)
- Hughes — primary (person)
- King — primary (person)
- Middleton — primary (person)
- Parker — primary (person)
- Paxton — primary (person)
- Perry — primary (person)
- Schwertner — primary (person)
- Shaheen — primary (person)
- Sparks — primary (person)
- Bonnen — cosponsor (person)
- Hefner — cosponsor (person)
- Hopper — cosponsor (person)
- Kolkhorst — cosponsor (person)
- Metcalf — cosponsor (person)
- Paul — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-08-15** Received by the Secretary of the Senate `filing, introduction`
- **2025-08-15** Filed `filing`
- **2025-08-15** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-08-15** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-08-15** Posting rule suspended
- **2025-08-15** Record vote
- **2025-08-15** Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
- **2025-08-15** Considered in public hearing
- **2025-08-15** Testimony taken in committee
- **2025-08-15** Vote taken in committee
- **2025-08-15** Reported favorably w/o amendments `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-08-15** Committee report printed and distributed
- **2025-08-18** Co-author authorized
- **2025-08-18** Rules suspended-Regular order of business
- **2025-08-18** Record vote
- **2025-08-18** Read 2nd time & passed to engrossment `reading-2`
- **2025-08-18** Record vote
- **2025-08-19** Laid before the Senate `receipt`
- **2025-08-19** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-08-19** Passed `passage`
- **2025-08-19** Record vote
- **2025-08-19** Reason for vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-08-19** Reported engrossed
- **2025-08-20** Received from the Senate `introduction`
- **2025-08-20** Read first time `introduction, reading-1`
- **2025-08-20** Referred to State Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2025-08-26** Considered in formal meeting
- **2025-08-26** Reported favorably w/o amendment(s) `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-08-26** Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator `filing`
- **2025-08-26** Committee report distributed
- **2025-08-26** Committee report sent to Calendars
- **2025-08-26** Laid out in lieu of companion
- **2025-08-26** Read 2nd time `reading-2`
- **2025-08-26** Point of order withdrawn `withdrawal`
- **2025-08-26** Amendment fails of adoption `amendment-failure`
- **2025-08-26** Record vote
- **2025-08-26** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-08-26** Passed to 3rd reading
- **2025-08-26** Record vote
- **2025-08-26** Read 3rd time `reading-3`
- **2025-08-26** Passed `passage`
- **2025-08-26** Record vote
- **2025-08-26** Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-08-26** Reason for vote recorded in Journal
- **2025-08-26** House passage reported `passage`
- **2025-08-26** Reported enrolled `enrolled`
- **2025-08-27** Signed in the Senate `passage`
- **2025-08-28** Signed in the House `passage`
- **2025-08-28** Sent to the Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-09-19** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-09-19** Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/68e9b73c-d3c5-464c-87b2-cf5da0c1626c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Texas legislature records).