85R4287 ATP-F
By: Stephenson H.B. No. 756
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to restrictions on the name of a general-purpose political
committee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 252.0011(a), (b), and (c), Election
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (c), a person is
ineligible for appointment as a campaign treasurer if:
(1) the person is the campaign treasurer of a
political committee that does not file a report required by Chapter
254; or
(2) the campaign treasurer appointment of the person
was terminated under Section 252.0131(a) for violating Section
252.003(e).
(b) The period for which a person is ineligible under
Subsection (a)(1) [(a)] for appointment as a campaign treasurer
ends on the date on which the political committee in connection with
which the person's ineligibility arose has filed each report
required by Chapter 254 that was not timely filed or has paid all
fines and penalties in connection with the failure to file the
report. The period for which a person is ineligible under
Subsection (a)(2) for appointment as a campaign treasurer ends on
the fourth anniversary of the date the person's campaign treasurer
appointment was terminated under Section 252.0131(a) for violating
Section 252.003(e).
(c) A person is not ineligible for appointment as a campaign
treasurer under Subsection (a)(1) [(a) does not apply to a person]
if, in any semiannual reporting period prescribed by Chapter 254:
(1) the political committee in connection with which
the person's ineligibility arose did not accept political
contributions that in the aggregate exceed $5,000 or make political
expenditures that in the aggregate exceed $5,000; and
(2) the candidate who or political committee that
subsequently appoints the person does not accept political
contributions that in the aggregate exceed $5,000 or make political
expenditures that in the aggregate exceed $5,000.
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 252.003, Election Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 252.003. CONTENTS OF APPOINTMENT BY GENERAL-PURPOSE
COMMITTEE; COMMITTEE NAME.
SECTION 3. Section 252.003, Election Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) The name of a general-purpose committee may not contain
the name of a political party without providing on every
publication disseminated by the committee a disclaimer that the
committee is not affiliated in any way with the party in text not
smaller than half the size of the text in which the name of the
committee appears. The commission shall determine whether the name
of a general-purpose committee is in violation of this prohibition
and shall immediately notify the campaign treasurer of the
offending committee of that determination.
SECTION 4. Section 252.0131(a), Election Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The commission by rule shall adopt a process by which
the commission may terminate the campaign treasurer appointment of
an inactive candidate or political committee that is required to
file a campaign treasurer appointment with the commission and by
which the commission shall terminate the campaign treasurer
appointment of a general-purpose committee that violates Section
252.003(e). The governing body of a political subdivision by
ordinance or order may adopt a process by which the clerk or
secretary, as applicable, of the political subdivision may
terminate the campaign treasurer appointment of an inactive
candidate or political committee that is required to file a
campaign treasurer appointment with the clerk or secretary. For
purposes of this section, a candidate or political committee is
inactive if the candidate or committee:
(1) has never filed or has ceased to file reports under
Chapter 254;
(2) in the case of a candidate, has not been elected to
an office for which a candidate is required to file a campaign
treasurer appointment with the authority who is seeking to
terminate the candidate's campaign treasurer appointment; and
(3) has not filed:
(A) a final report under Section 254.065 or
254.125; or
(B) a dissolution report under Section 254.126 or
254.159.
SECTION 5. Not later than January 1, 2018, the Texas Ethics
Commission shall determine whether the name of a general-purpose
political committee that filed a campaign treasurer appointment
before September 1, 2017, violates Section 252.003(e), Election
Code, as added by this Act, and shall notify the campaign treasurer
of the political committee of that determination.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.