H.B. No. 3511

AN ACT

relating to the contents of financial statements filed by certain persons; adding a provision subject to criminal penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 572.023, Government Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (g) and (h) to read as follows:

(a) A financial statement must include an account of the financial activity for the preceding calendar year of:

(1) any property characterized as separate property under Section 3.001, Family Code, of the individual required by this subchapter to file a financial statement;

(2) any community property of which the individual required by this subchapter to file a financial statement has sole management, control, and disposition as provided by Section 3.102(a), Family Code;

(3) any community property of the individual required by this subchapter to file a financial statement, if the individual exercised both factual and legal control over the activity; and

(4) [an account of the financial activity of] the individual's [spouse and] dependent children if the individual exercised or held the right to exercise any degree of legal or factual [had actual] control over that activity [for the preceding calendar year].

(g) A person who electronically files a verified financial statement with the commission or another filing authority is not required to include a notarized affidavit with the financial statement if the person:

(1) has requested and received an electronic filing password pursuant to the rules of the commission or other authority, as applicable; and

(2) uses that password to file the financial statement.

(h) Each financial statement filed under this chapter that is not filed electronically must be accompanied by an affidavit executed by the person required to file the financial statement. The affidavit must contain the statement: "I swear, or affirm, under penalty of perjury, that the accompanying report is true and correct and includes all information required to be reported by me under Chapter 572, Government Code." Each financial statement filed electronically under this chapter must be under oath by the person required to file the financial statement and must contain, in compliance with commission or local filing authority specifications, the digitized signature of the person required to file the financial statement. A financial statement filed under this chapter is considered to be under oath by the person required to file the financial statement, and the person is subject to prosecution under Chapter 37, Penal Code, regardless of the absence of or a defect in the affidavit.

SECTION 2. This Act applies only to a financial statement due on or after the effective date of this Act. A financial statement due before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the financial statement was due, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.

______________________________ ______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 3511 was passed by the House on May 4, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, 1 present, not voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. No. 3511 on May 29, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 3511 was passed by the Senate, with amendments, on May 27, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.

______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: __________________

Date

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Governor