| TO: | Honorable Rob Eissler, Chair, House Committee on Public Education |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB336 by Marquez (Relating to the filing and posting on the Internet of reports of political contributions and expenditures required in connection with the office of member of the board of trustees of certain school districts.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill would require school districts located either wholly or partly in a city with a population of 500,000 or more to post on their Internet websites the campaign finance reports for school board trustees and candidates for school board positions. These school districts may remove portions of each political contributor's address to show only the city, state, and zip code, but the removed information must remain available on the reports maintained in the school districts' offices. The campaign finance reports must be posted online no later than the fifth business day after the date the report is filed with the school district.
Texas Ethics Commission reports no direct negative fiscal impact to the agency, but does project a 50 percent increase in the number of sworn complaints filed with the agency against school district filers as a result of the increase in availability of campaign finance reports online. However, it is anticipated that any additional costs could be absorbed within existing resources.
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011, and provisions of the bill would apply only to the posting of campaign finance reports that are required to be filed on or after January 1, 2012.
| Source Agencies: | 356 Texas Ethics Commission
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, LXH, MS, DEH
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