76R9812 ESH-F                           
         By Averitt                                            H.B. No. 1880
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1880:
         By Gallego                                        C.S.H.B. No. 1880
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain expenditures by corporations and labor
 1-3     organizations for appearances by candidates for public office.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 253.098(a), Election Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  A corporation or labor organization may make one or more
 1-8     direct campaign expenditures from its own property for the purpose
 1-9     of:
1-10                 (1)  communicating directly with its stockholders or
1-11     members, as applicable, or with the families of its stockholders or
1-12     members; or
1-13                 (2)  permitting a candidate to appear at and speak to a
1-14     meeting of its stockholders or members, as applicable, or of the
1-15     families  of its stockholders or members.
1-16           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-17           SECTION 3.  Section 253.098, Election Code, as amended by
1-18     this Act, applies only to the appearance of a candidate at a
1-19     meeting of the stockholders or members of a corporation or labor
1-20     organization or of the families of stockholders or members of a
1-21     corporation or labor organization that is made on or after
1-22     September 1, 1999.  The appearance of a candidate at a meeting of
1-23     the stockholders or members of a corporation or labor organization
1-24     or of the families of stockholders or members of a corporation or
 2-1     labor organization that is made before September 1, 1999, is
 2-2     governed by the law in effect at the time the appearance was made,
 2-3     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-4           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.