BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1886

By: Howard

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that personal financial statements should be more readily available, and Texans who are seeking these documents should not have to engage in a time-consuming and burdensome process to obtain them. H.B. 1886 seeks to address this issue by requiring the Texas Ethics Commission to make more information available online.

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. 1886 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) to make the personal financial statements filed by certain public officials available to the public on the TEC website. The bill authorizes the TEC to remove from the site each financial statement filed by the state officer after the second anniversary of the date an individual ceases to be a state officer but requires the TEC to remove those statements after that date on notification from the former official.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.