BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1294

By: Capriglione

General Investigating & Ethics

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under current law, a state officer, a partisan or independent candidate for an office as an elected officer, and a state party chair must file a verified financial statement with the Texas Ethics Commission. Recent developments have called into question whether these statements are required to include sufficient information. H.B. 1294 requires such a statement to disclose information related to certain contracts or subcontracts with governmental entities.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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. 1294 amends the Government Code to expand the required content of the account of financial activity included in a financial statement that a state officer, a partisan or independent candidate for an office as an elected officer, or a state party chair is required to file with the Texas Ethics Commission to include the identification of certain types of written contracts, including the name of each party to such a contract, if the aggregate cost of goods or services sold under one or more such contracts exceeds $10,000 in the year covered by the report. The bill applies this contract identification requirement to a written contract if the following conditions apply: the contract is for the sale of goods or services in the amount of $2,500 or more; the individual filing the financial statement, the individual's spouse, the individual's dependent child, or any business entity of which the individual, the individual's spouse, or the individual's dependent child has at least a 50 percent ownership interest is a party to the contract; and the contract is with a governmental entity or with a person who contracts with a governmental entity, to fulfill one or more of the person's obligations to the governmental entity under that contract. The bill defines "governmental entity" as the state, a political subdivision of the state, or an agency or department of the state or a political subdivision of the state. The bill applies only to a financial statement filed on or after January 1, 2017.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2015.