H.B. 1991 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1991 By: Brown, Betty Elections Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law requires campaign pledges be reported as contributions on campaign finance reports. These pledges must be reported even if the contribution is never received by the candidate. Many believe this provides inaccurate campaign finance reporting. House Bill 1991 would eliminate the reporting of "offered" contributions to political campaigns. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1991 amends the Election Code by deleting, from the definition of contribution, for the purposes of the regulation and reporting of political contributions, an agreement made or other obligation incurred, whether legally enforceable or not, to make a transfer of money, goods, services, or any other thing of value. The bill removes contributions offered from the definitions of campaign contribution and officeholder contribution. EFFECTIVE DATE January 1, 2004.