By:  Harris                                           S.B. No. 1364
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to out-of-state political committees.
 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subdivision (15), Section 251.001, Election Code,
 1-4     is amended to read as follows:
 1-5                 (15)  "Out-of-state political committee" means a
 1-6     political committee that:
 1-7                       (A)  makes political expenditures outside this
 1-8     state; and
 1-9                       (B)  in the 12 months immediately preceding the
1-10     making of a political expenditure by the committee inside this
1-11     state (other than an expenditure made in connection with a campaign
1-12     for a federal office or made for a federal officeholder), makes 90
1-13     [80] percent or more of the committee's total political
1-14     expenditures in any combination of elections outside this state and
1-15     federal offices not voted on in this state.
1-16           SECTION 2.  Section 253.032, Election Code, is amended by
1-17     adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
1-18           (f)  Notwithstanding Section 253.003 or any other section of
1-19     this title, a candidate, officeholder or political committee shall
1-20     not violate any provision of this title by accepting any
1-21     contribution or transfer from any out-of-state political committee,
1-22     regardless of such out-of-state political committee's compliance
1-23     with any reporting requirement of this title.
1-24           (g)  Out-of-state persons, including but not limited to
 2-1     out-of-state political committees, that make contributions or
 2-2     transfers of funds to a political party pursuant to Section 253.104
 2-3     or Section 257.002 are exempt from the reporting requirements of
 2-4     this title.
 2-5           (h)  Any federally-registered out-of-state political
 2-6     committee that contributes to a Texas candidate may satisfy the
 2-7     reporting requirements of this title by:
 2-8                 (1)  filing with the commission a copy of its federal
 2-9     registration (Federal Election Commission Form 1--Statement of
2-10     Organization); and
2-11                 (2)  filing with the commission a copy of the
2-12     committee's most recently filed Federal Election Commission finance
2-13     report (Federal Election Commission Form 3--Report of Receipts and
2-14     Disbursements) when a contribution is made to a Texas candidate or
2-15     committee.
2-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.