BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

                                                                                                                                           H.B. 2493

                                                                                                                                         By: Berman

                                                                                                                                             Elections

                                                                                                       Committee Report (Unamended)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

Under current law, former high-ranking agency officials, who fall within a certain position classification salary schedule, are restricted from lobbying their former agencies on issues on which they worked.  An individual who violates the lobbying restriction commits a Class A misdemeanor.  These schedules over time have been updated in agencies; however, the revolving door provisions in the Government Code have not been amended to reflect these changes.  H.B. 2493 updates the Texas agency employee revolving door statute to reflect the changes to the position classification salary schedules used in the current appropriations process.

 

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

 

H.B. 2493 amends the Government Code to provide that a state employee of a regulatory agency who is compensated, as of the last date of state employment, at or above the minimum amount prescribed by the General Appropriations Act for salary group B15 of the position classification salary schedule may not lobby their former agencies regarding a particular matter in which the former officer or employee participated during the period of state service or employment.

 

The change in law made by this bill applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective date.  An offense is considered to be committed before the effective date if any element of the offense occurs before that date.   An offense committed before the effective date is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

September 1, 2007.