BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 776

By: Ashby

General Investigating & Ethics

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Concerns have been raised about the availability of home address information for individuals who file personal financial statements with the Texas Ethics Commission and interested parties contend this personally identifying information should be redacted from the statements before such statements are made available to the public. H.B. 776 seeks to address these concerns by expanding the class of individuals who are entitled to have their home addresses so redacted to include all filers of such statements.

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. 776 amends the Government Code to replace the requirement that the Texas Ethics Commission remove the home address of a judge or justice from the individual's personal financial statement required to be filed with the commission before permitting a member of the public to view the statement or before providing a copy of the statement to a member of the public with a requirement that the commission make such a removal in those circumstances for any individual's required personal financial statement and that the commission remove the address from such a statement before making the statement available to the public on the commission's website. The bill applies to such a personal financial statement regardless of whether the statement was required to be filed before, on, or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.