Amend CSHB 1818 (house committee printing) by adding the following SECTION to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
SECTION ____. Subchapter B, Chapter 81, Natural Resources Code, is amended by adding Section 81.010045 to read as follows:
Sec. 81.010045. CERTAIN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS RESTRICTED. (a) In this section, "political committee" and "political contribution" have the meanings assigned by Section 251.001, Election Code.
(b) A commissioner may not knowingly accept a political contribution given or offered with the intention that it be used in connection with a campaign for or the holding of any elective office, including the office of commissioner, except during the period:
(1) beginning 19 months before the date of the next general election at which the commissioner's office is filled; and
(2) ending on the 30th day after the date of that election.
(c) A person other than a commissioner may not knowingly accept a political contribution given or offered with the intention that it be used in connection with a campaign for the office of commissioner, except:
(1) during the period:
(A) beginning 19 months before the date of the next general election at which any commissioner's office is filled; and
(B) ending on the 30th day after the date of that election; or
(2) during the period beginning on the date a vacancy in the office of commissioner occurs and ending on the date that vacancy is filled.
(d) A commissioner may not knowingly accept a political contribution, and shall refuse a political contribution that is received, from a party in a contested case before the commission or a political committee affiliated with such a party during the period:
(1) beginning on the date notice of the hearing in the contested case is given; and
(2) ending on:
(A) the 30th day after the date the decision in the contested case is rendered; or
(B) if a request for rehearing is filed:
(i) the date the request is denied; or
(ii) the 30th day after the date the decision after rehearing is rendered.
(e) A commissioner shall return a political contribution that is received and refused under Subsection (d) not later than the 30th day after the date the commissioner received the contribution.
(f) The commission shall adopt all rules necessary to implement Subsections (d) and (e), including rules that:
(1) direct the commission to maintain a list of the contested cases before the commission and the parties to each case in order to aid the commissioners in complying with those subsections; and
(2) ensure that each notice of a hearing in a contested case that is issued by the commission or a commissioner contains information about the political contributions prohibited under Subsection (d).