By Maxey                                              H.B. No. 2625
         76R5354 CAG-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appointment of certain persons as officers or
 1-3     employees of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission and
 1-4     to restrictions on employment following commission service.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 5.060, Water Code, is amended to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           Sec. 5.060.  RESTRICTIONS ON APPOINTMENT AND PROHIBITIONS ON
 1-9     EMPLOYMENT FOLLOWING COMMISSION SERVICE [LOBBYIST PROHIBITION].
1-10     (a)  A person who is required to register as a lobbyist under
1-11     Chapter 305, Government Code, by virtue of the person's [his]
1-12     activities for compensation in or on behalf of a profession related
1-13     to the operation of the commission for any portion of the two years
1-14     before the date of the person's appointment may not serve as a
1-15     member of the commission or as the executive director of the
1-16     commission or act as the general counsel to the commission.
1-17           (b)  A person who served as a member of the commission or as
1-18     the executive director of the commission or acted as the general
1-19     counsel to the  commission may not, after terminating the person's
1-20     service with the commission, register as a lobbyist under Chapter
1-21     305, Government Code, and receive any compensation in or on behalf
1-22     of a profession related to the operation of the commission or that
1-23     receives funds from the commission until after the third
1-24     anniversary of the termination of the person's service with the
 2-1     commission.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-3     applies to the appointment of a member to, the employment of a
 2-4     person with, or the termination of a person's service from the
 2-5     Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission on or after the
 2-6     effective date of this Act. The appointment of a member to, the
 2-7     employment of a person with, or the termination of a person's
 2-8     service from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
 2-9     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it
2-10     existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that
2-11     law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.