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Committee clears bill criminalizing disruptive interference with virtual public meetings
Summary
House Bill 5238 was advanced to the full Senate; the bill extends existing prohibitions on disrupting lawful meetings to virtual gatherings and classifies disruptive electronic interference as a Class B misdemeanor.
The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice voted to report House Bill 5238 favorably to the full Senate after the sponsor described the need to modernize statutes that prohibit disruption of lawful meetings to cover virtual government gatherings.
Senator Hinojosa said current state law bars disrupting lawful meetings or processions but does not clearly address virtual meetings and electronic interference. “House Bill 5238 expands the current prohibition on disrupting lawful meetings to include virtual gatherings,” the sponsor said, and makes disrupting a virtual meeting by electronic disturbance, including hacking, a Class B misdemeanor.
The committee had no invited or public testimony on the bill and expressed no objections; the clerk recorded four ayes, no nays when the vote was called and the committee recommended the measure be reported favorably.
