2005S0506-1 03/08/05
By: Bohac H.B. No. 3380
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the laws administered by the Texas Ethics Commission
for the fair conduct of elections and election campaigns; providing
penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subdivision (2), Section 251.001, Election Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(2) "Contribution" means a direct or indirect transfer
of money, goods, services, or any other thing of value and includes
an agreement made or other obligation incurred, whether legally
enforceable or not, to make a transfer. The term includes a loan or
extension of credit, other than those expressly excluded by this
subdivision, and a guarantee of a loan or extension of credit,
including a loan described by this subdivision. The term does not
include:
(A) a loan made in the due course of business by a
corporation that is legally engaged in the business of lending
money and that has conducted the business continuously for more
than one year before the loan is made; [or]
(B) an expenditure required to be reported under
Section 305.006(b), Government Code; or
(C) the value of services provided without
compensation by any individual who volunteers on behalf of a
candidate, officeholder, or political committee.
SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 252.003, Election Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) In addition to the information required by Section
252.002, a campaign treasurer appointment by a general-purpose
committee must include:
(1) the full name, and any acronym of the name that
will be used in the name of the committee as provided by Subsection
(d), of each corporation, labor organization, or other association
or legal entity that directly establishes, administers, or controls
the committee, if applicable, or the name of each person who
determines to whom the committee makes contributions or the name of
each person who determines for what purposes the committee makes
expenditures; and
(2) [the full name and address of each general-purpose
committee to whom the committee intends to make political
contributions; and
[(3)] the name of the committee and, if the name is an
acronym, the words the acronym represents.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 253, Election Code, is
amended by adding Section 253.006 to read as follows:
Sec. 253.006. COERCION PROHIBITED. (a) A person,
including a candidate, officeholder, or political committee,
commits an offense if the person uses or threatens to use physical
force, job discrimination, or financial reprisal to obtain a
contribution or other thing of value to be used to influence the
result of an election or to assist an officeholder.
(b) A candidate, officeholder, or political committee
commits an offense if the person accepts or uses money or any other
thing of value that is known by the candidate or officeholder or by
an officer of the political committee, or an individual who causes
the political committee to accept or use the money or other thing of
value, to have been obtained in violation of Subsection (a).
(c) An offense under this section is a felony of the third
degree.
SECTION 4. Subsection (c), Section 253.031, Election Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) A political committee that files its campaign treasurer
appointment later than the 30th day before the date of an election
may not knowingly make or authorize a campaign contribution or
campaign expenditure supporting or opposing a candidate for an
office specified by Section 252.005(1) in a primary or general
election unless the committee files, not later than 48 hours after
the appointment, a report that contains the information required by
Chapter 254 covering the applicable reporting period through the
date the committee's campaign treasurer appointment was [has been]
filed [not later than the 30th day before the appropriate election
day].
SECTION 5. Section 253.033, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 253.033. CASH CONTRIBUTIONS EXCEEDING $100
PROHIBITED; ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS. (a) A candidate,
officeholder, or specific-purpose committee may not knowingly
accept from a contributor in a reporting period political
contributions in cash that in the aggregate exceed $100.
(b) A candidate, officeholder, or political committee that
receives an anonymous cash contribution in excess of $50 shall
promptly disburse the amount over $50 to one or more of the entities
listed in Section 254.204(a)(1), (3), (5), or (6). Anonymous cash
contributions of $50 or less may be used by the candidate,
officeholder, or political committee for any lawful purpose.
(c) A person who violates this section commits an offense.
An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
SECTION 6. Section 253.063, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 253.063. TRAVEL EXPENSE. Unreimbursed travel expenses
incurred by an individual are not a contribution or a [A] direct
campaign expenditure and are not reportable under this subchapter
or Chapter 254 [consisting of personal travel expenses incurred by
an individual may be made without complying with Section
253.062(a)(1)].
SECTION 7. Section 253.098, Election Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b) A corporation or labor organization may make one or more
campaign expenditures from its own property for the purpose of
permitting a candidate to appear and speak at a meeting of its
directors, officers, stockholders, or members, as applicable, or of
the families of its directors, officers, stockholders, or members.
A corporation or labor organization may not make an expenditure
under this subsection for transportation or lodging.
(c) An expenditure under this section is not reportable
under Chapter 254.
SECTION 8. Section 254.128, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 254.128. NOTICE TO CANDIDATE AND OFFICEHOLDER OF
IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS [AND EXPENDITURES]. (a) If a
specific-purpose committee, other than a special-purpose committee
established, controlled, or authorized by the candidate or
officeholder, [accepts political contributions or] makes political
expenditures for a candidate or officeholder that constitute an
in-kind contribution, the committee's campaign treasurer shall
deliver written notice of that fact to the affected candidate or
officeholder not later than the end of the period covered by the
report in which the reportable activity occurs.
(b) The notice must include the full name and address of the
political committee and its campaign treasurer, [and] an indication
that the committee is a specific-purpose committee, and the amount
and nature of the contribution.
(c) A campaign treasurer commits an offense if the campaign
treasurer fails to comply with this section. An offense under this
section is a Class A misdemeanor.
SECTION 9. Section 254.161, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 254.161. NOTICE TO CANDIDATE AND OFFICEHOLDER OF
CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES. If a general-purpose committee
other than the principal political committee of a political party
or a political committee established by a political party's county
executive committee [accepts political contributions or] makes
direct political expenditures for a candidate or officeholder that
constitute a contribution, notice of that fact shall be given to the
affected candidate or officeholder as provided by Section 254.128
for a specific-purpose committee.
SECTION 10. Section 253.037, Election Code, is repealed.
SECTION 11. (a) The changes in law made by this Act apply
only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before
the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
before the effective date.
(b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 12. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2005.