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House Bill 1616 |
House Author: Geren et al. |
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Effective: Vetoed |
Senate Sponsor: Estes |
House Bill 1616 amends the Election Code to increase from $50 to $100 the threshold amount of a political expenditure for which that expenditure must be reported and expands the list of information that must be included in reports of political contributions or expenditures filed with the Texas Ethics Commission by an officeholder, candidate, or political committee. The bill authorizes a person to amend a filed semiannual report or correct a filed report under certain circumstances and creates an exception to the application of the Class C misdemeanor for filing an untimely or incomplete report.
House Bill 1616 amends the Government Code to establish conditions that do not constitute a valid basis for filing a complaint alleging that a person violated a rule or law enforced by the commission and sets out procedures relating to the dismissal of a complaint challenging certain information in a political report. The bill revises provisions relating to complaint processing and prohibits the commission from conducting a preliminary review of a complaint alleging that a person failed to properly file a report until the period for correcting the report has expired. The bill amends the Local Government Code to require the financial statement of certain county officers to comply with any order of the county commissioners court requiring additional disclosure.
Reason Given for Veto: "Although House Bill 1616 contains several commonsense changes to Texas' campaign finance reporting statutes, an amendment added late in the process would inadvertently cripple the Texas Ethics Commission's authority to enforce compliance with state campaign finance laws.
"The amendment's author requested a veto of House Bill 1616. I urge the Texas Legislature to closely examine our system of campaign finance reporting during the Ethics Commission's upcoming Sunset Commission review and craft legislation that will continue and improve our state's 20-year history of open, honest and efficient campaign finance reporting."