HOUSE AUTHOR: Wolens |
|
EFFECTIVE: 9-1-03 |
SENATE SPONSOR: R. Ellis |
House Bill 1606 amends the Government Code to provide for the Texas Ethics Commission to undergo sunset review before the regular legislative session in 2015 and to include and update standard sunset provisions.
Additional Duties of the Ethics Commission: The bill requires, rather than authorizes, the commission to perform facial audits of randomly selected statements and reports, and it provides procedures for the facial audits. The bill expands the contents of the commission's biennial report to the governor and the legislature.
Complaint Procedures and Hearings: The bill establishes a two-tiered enforcement process in which complaints within the commission's jurisdiction are categorized as either Category One, which allege violations that are generally not difficult to ascertain, and Category Two, which are more complex. The commission is required to put the complaint form on the Internet. The bill shifts from the commission to the executive director the initial determination of whether a complaint is within the jurisdiction of the commission and provides for a commission review of the executive director's determination of no jurisdiction if requested by the complainant.
The bill shortens the period the commission has to send a written notice to the complainant and the respondent to not later than the 5th, rather than the 14th, business day after the date the complaint was filed. The bill establishes specific timelines for resolving complaints, a deadline for a respondent to respond to a Category One or Category Two violation, and procedures for the response. The bill also provides that it is a separate violation for a failure to timely respond to the notice.
The bill sets forth procedures for a preliminary review and hearing if the complaint is not resolved, and it removes the informal hearing stage from the complaint process. The bill allows the executive director to refer complaints alleging certain Penal Code violations to a prosecuting attorney and allows the commission or executive director to disclose confidential information under certain circumstances. The bill provides that in a formal hearing the commission is required to determine whether a violation occurred based on a preponderance of the evidence, rather than the stricter standard of clear and convincing evidence.
Investigative Powers: The bill allows the commission to subpoena documents and witnesses during the preliminary review process if the commission reasonably believes the information is necessary to the investigation and cannot be obtained otherwise. Commission staff is authorized to disclose confidential information as necessary to third parties as long as the executive director approves. The penalty for an employee who breaches confidentiality is lowered from a Class A to a Class C misdemeanor, and the commission is required to terminate the employee.
Late Statements, Registrations, and Reports: The bill provides that a corrected or amended statement, registration, or report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission is not, for purposes of a civil penalty, considered late if the person promptly files the corrected or amended statement, registration, or report on learning that, as originally filed, it was inaccurate or incomplete. The bill permits the commission to waive or reduce a civil penalty imposed for late filing of a statement, registration, or report and specifies factors the commission may consider in deciding whether to waive or reduce the penalty.
Campaign Finance and Political Advertising: The bill provides that a person is ineligible, with certain exceptions, for appointment as a campaign treasurer if the person is the campaign treasurer of a political committee that does not file a report. The bill sets forth procedures for the termination by the commission of the campaign treasurer appointment of an inactive candidate or committee. The ban on political contributions to statewide officeholders, members of the legislature, specific-purpose committees, and legislative caucuses is extended until the 20th day after final adjournment of the regular legislative session. The bill requires candidates and officeholders to keep campaign and officeholder contributions in accounts separate from all other accounts and provides that a violation is a Class B misdemeanor.
The bill requires statewide executive and legislative candidates and officeholders and their political committees to use best efforts to collect and report the name and address, principal occupation, and name of employer of contributors whose contributions equal or exceed $500 in a reporting period. The bill combines two existing exemptions from electronic reporting by allowing a candidate, officeholder, or committee to file a written report, rather than filing electronically, with the commission if the candidate, officeholder, or committee does not use computer equipment to keep records of political contributions and expenditures and if, in a calendar year, the candidate, officeholder, or committee does not accept political contributions or make political expenditures in excess of $20,000. Certain candidates are required to report, within one business day, donations of more than $1,000 received during the period beginning the ninth day before the election and ending at noon on the day before election day. The bill requires out-of-state political committees that raise or spend money in Texas to file certain financial disclosure reports with the Texas Ethics Commission and candidates for county chairs in counties with a population of more than 350,000 to file campaign finance reports.
Late-filed Reports: The bill changes the civil penalty assessed for certain late-filed reports from a maximum of $100 for each late day to a penalty of $500, and it increases the civil penalty assessed for late-filed eight-day reports and the first semiannual report following an election from a maximum of $100 for each late day to a penalty of $500 for the first day it is late and $100 each day thereafter. The bill allows a resident of the territory served by an office to bring an action for injunctive relief against certain candidates, officeholders, or political committees that fail to file their campaign finance report on time.
Disclosures on Political Advertising: The bill requires political advertising containing "express advocacy" to include a disclosure of the full name of the person or political committee that paid for or authorized the advertising, with certain exceptions. The bill assesses a maximum $4,000 civil penalty for violating the disclosure provisions and expands the definition of "political advertising" to include information posted on an Internet website.
Speaker's Race: The bill establishes additional requirements for the speaker's race:
• candidates are to declare their candidacy in writing with the commission and may not collect or spend contributions until the declaration is filed;
• candidates are to file campaign finance reports electronically;
• contributions to a speaker candidate from non-speaker campaign or officeholder contributions or interest earned on or assets purchased with such contributions are prohibited; and
• the disposal of unexpended campaign funds is restricted for former speaker candidates, and former speaker candidates are required to continue filing campaign finance reports until all unexpended funds are spent.
Lobbying: The bill increases the daily amount a lobbyist may spend on an executive or legislative officer or employee without having to meet additional reporting requirements from a maximum of $50 a day to a maximum of 60 percent of the amount of the legislative per diem in a day. The bill requires electronic filing of all lobby registrations and activity reports. The bill requires the commission to develop an electronic filing system for lobbyists not later than December 1, 2004, and to develop rules that allow for paper filing. The bill clarifies the circumstances under which lobbyists are prohibited from representing a client due to a conflict of interest, establishes a maximum civil penalty of $2,000 for violating the conflict of interest provisions, and eliminates the criminal penalty for violating those provisions. The bill makes employees of certain quasi-governmental agencies subject to lobbyist registration requirements. The bill changes the civil penalty assessed for a late-filed lobbyist registration or report from a maximum of $100 for each late day to a penalty of $500.
Personal Disclosure: The bill requires legislators and other state officers to disclose in their annual financial statement additional information about their personal finances and potential conflicts of interest, such as:
• the address of any real property owned;
• any mutual funds held;
• all legislative continuances received; and
• all referrals for legal services made and the amount of any fee accepted for the referral if the state officer is a lawyer.
The bill requires gubernatorial appointees to file personal financial disclosure statements within 14 days, rather than 30 days, of their appointment or before their confirmation hearing, whichever date is earlier. The bill updates provisions regarding references to business organizations by including limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, professional corporations, professional associations, joint ventures, or other business associations. The bill defines "blind trust" and requires reporting of income from a blind trust. The bill changes the civil penalty assessed for a late-filed personal financial disclosure statement from a maximum of $100 for each late day to a penalty of $500.
The bill requires the following local officials to file personal financial disclosure statements:
• municipal officers in cities with a population of 100,000 or more;
• trustees of independent school districts with an enrollment of at least 5,000 students;
• directors of sports and community venue districts in counties with a population of 2.4 million or more; and
• members of the governing bodies of port authorities and navigation districts.
The bill establishes procedures for enforcing the filing requirements and provides penalties for failure to file.
Additional Standards of Conduct: The bill provides that the following are the only exceptions to the prohibition on members of the legislature representing another person for compensation before an executive branch state agency: (1) the representation is pursuant to an attorney-client relationship in a criminal law matter or (2) the representation involves the filing of documents that involve only ministerial acts on the part of the commission, agency, board, department, or officer. The bill requires legislators to file a notice before introducing, sponsoring, or voting on a measure for which a close relative is lobbying, and it requires the lobbyist to also disclose the relationship.
The bill requires a legislator who, as an attorney for a party, obtains a legislative continuance to file a copy of the application for continuance with the ethics commission within three days of filing the application with the court.