| TO: | Honorable John Carona, Chair, Senate Committee on Transportation & Homeland Security |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB585 by Carona (Relating to standards of conduct and ethics policies for metropolitan planning organizations.), As Introduced |
The bill would require a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) policy board to distribute a copy of the organization's ethics policy to each new employee and each new policy board member within a certain time period. The bill would also require a prosecuting attorney who receives notification of a violation of the MPO's ethics policy to contact the Texas Ethics Commission (commission) of the status of the investigation. On request, the commission would be required to assist the prosecuting attorney in the investigation.
Unless there were to be a large number of investigations related to ethics violations by MPO board members and employees, and the prosecuting attorney were to seek assistance from the commission for each, it is assumed costs associated with implementation could be absorbed within existing resources.
| Source Agencies: | 356 Texas Ethics Commission
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, KJG, DB
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