85R2285 EES-D
By: Cook H.J.R. No. 112
A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment requiring certain persons or
groups to report certain contributions and political expenditures.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article XVI, Texas Constitution, is amended by
adding Section 75 to read as follows:
Sec. 75. (a) In this section:
(1) "Campaign contribution" means a contribution to a
candidate or political committee that is offered or given with the
intent that it be used in connection with a campaign for elective
office or on a measure. Whether a contribution is made before,
during, or after an election does not affect its status as a
campaign contribution.
(2) "Campaign expenditure" means an expenditure made
by any person in connection with a campaign for an elective office
or on a measure. Whether an expenditure is made before, during, or
after an election does not affect its status as a campaign
expenditure.
(3) "Candidate" means a person who knowingly and
willingly takes affirmative action for the purpose of gaining
nomination or election to public office or for the purpose of
satisfying financial obligations incurred by the person in
connection with the campaign for nomination or election. Examples
of affirmative action include:
(A) the filing of a campaign treasurer
appointment, except that the filing does not constitute candidacy
or an announcement of candidacy for purposes of the automatic
resignation provisions of Section 65 of this article or Section 11,
Article XI;
(B) the filing of an application for a place on a
ballot;
(C) the filing of an application for nomination
by convention;
(D) the filing of a declaration of intent to
become an independent candidate or a declaration of write-in
candidacy;
(E) the making of a public announcement of a
definite intent to run for public office in a particular election,
regardless of whether the specific office is mentioned in the
announcement;
(F) before a public announcement of intent, the
making of a statement of definite intent to run for public office
and the soliciting of support by letter or other mode of
communication;
(G) the soliciting or accepting of a campaign
contribution or the making of a campaign expenditure; and
(H) the seeking of the nomination of an executive
committee of a political party to fill a vacancy.
(4) "Commission" means the Texas Ethics Commission.
(5) "Contribution" means a direct or indirect transfer
of money, goods, services, or any other thing of value and includes
an agreement made or other obligation incurred, whether legally
enforceable or not, to make a transfer. The term includes a loan or
extension of credit, other than those expressly excluded by this
subdivision, and a guarantee of a loan or extension of credit,
including a loan described by this subdivision. The term also
includes dues and gifts. The term does not include:
(A) a loan made in the due course of business by a
corporation that is legally engaged in the business of lending
money and that has conducted the business continuously for more
than one year before the loan is made;
(B) a commercial transaction involving the
transfer for consideration of anything of value pursuant to a
contract or agreement that reflects the usual and normal business
practice of an industry; or
(C) an expenditure required to be reported in a
lobbying activities report filed with the commission.
(6) "Contribution in connection with campaign
activity" means a contribution from a donor to a person or group
that, at the time that the donor makes the contribution, the donor
knows or has reason to know may be used to make a political
contribution or political expenditure or may be commingled with
other funds used to make a political contribution or political
expenditure. A donor who signs a statement indicating that the
donor's contribution to the person or group may not be used to make
a political contribution or political expenditure does not have
reason to know that the donor's contribution may be used to make a
political contribution or political expenditure.
(7) "Direct campaign expenditure" means a campaign
expenditure that does not constitute a campaign contribution by the
person making the expenditure.
(8) "Donor" means a person who makes a contribution to
a person or group to whom this section applies, regardless of
whether the person making the contribution is a member of the person
or group that accepts the contribution.
(9) "Expenditure" means a payment of money or any
other thing of value and includes an agreement made or other
obligation incurred, whether legally enforceable or not, to make a
payment.
(10) "General-purpose committee" means a political
committee that has among its principal purposes:
(A) supporting or opposing:
(i) two or more candidates who are
unidentified or are seeking offices that are unknown; or
(ii) one or more measures that are
unidentified; or
(B) assisting two or more officeholders who are
unidentified.
(11) "Labor organization" means an agency, committee,
or any other organization in which employees participate that
exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with
employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of
pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work.
(12) "Measure" means a question or proposal submitted
in an election for an expression of the voters' will and includes
the circulation and submission of a petition to determine whether a
question or proposal is required to be submitted in an election for
an expression of the voters' will.
(13) "Officeholder contribution" means a contribution
to an officeholder or political committee that is offered or given
with the intent that it be used to defray expenses that:
(A) are incurred by the officeholder in
performing a duty or engaging in an activity in connection with the
office; and
(B) are not reimbursable with public money.
(14) "Officeholder expenditure" means an expenditure
made by any person to defray expenses that:
(A) are incurred by an officeholder in performing
a duty or engaging in an activity in connection with the office; and
(B) are not reimbursable with public money.
(15) "Political committee" means a group of persons
that has as a principal purpose accepting political contributions
or making political expenditures.
(16) "Political contribution" means a campaign
contribution or an officeholder contribution.
(17) "Political expenditure" means a campaign
expenditure or an officeholder expenditure.
(18) "Reportable activity" means a political
contribution, political expenditure, or other activity required to
be reported under state law regulating political funds and
campaigns.
(b) This section applies only to a person or group that:
(1) is not a political committee;
(2) accepts one or more contributions in connection
with campaign activity from a person that in the aggregate exceed
$2,000 during a reporting period; and
(3) makes one or more political expenditures that in
the aggregate exceed $25,000 during a calendar year, excluding:
(A) a direct campaign expenditure that a
corporation or labor organization makes from its own property for
the purpose of communicating directly with its stockholders or
members, as applicable, or with the families of its stockholders or
members;
(B) an expenditure that a corporation or labor
organization makes to finance nonpartisan voter registration and
get-out-the-vote campaigns aimed at its stockholders or members, as
applicable, or at the families of its stockholders or members;
(C) a political expenditure that a corporation or
labor organization, acting alone or with one or more other
corporations or labor organizations, as applicable, makes to
finance the establishment or administration of a general-purpose
committee;
(D) a political expenditure that a corporation or
labor organization makes to finance the solicitation of political
contributions from the stockholders, members, or employees, or
families of stockholders, members, or employees of one or more
corporations or labor organizations, as applicable to a
general-purpose committee described by Paragraph (C) of this
subdivision; and
(E) a contribution made by a corporation or labor
organization from its own property to a political party to be used
by the political party only to:
(i) defray normal overhead and
administrative or operating costs incurred by the party; or
(ii) administer a primary election or
convention held by the party.
(c) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a person
or group shall comply with the requirements and procedures for
reporting political contributions and political expenditures
established by the legislature as if the person or group were the
campaign treasurer of a general-purpose committee that does not
file monthly reports.
(d) A person or group is not required to file a campaign
treasurer appointment for accepting contributions or making
political expenditures for which reporting is required under this
section, unless the person or group is otherwise required to file a
campaign treasurer appointment under state law.
(e) A person or group is not required to file a report under
this section if:
(1) the person or group is required to disclose the
contributions and political expenditures in another report of
political contributions and political expenditures required by
state law within the time applicable under this section for
reporting the contributions and political expenditures; or
(2) no reportable activity occurs during the reporting
period.
(f) Disclosure of a contribution in the manner provided by
the legislature for reports of political contributions and
political expenditures by general-purpose committees is required
in a report under this section only if:
(1) the contribution is a contribution in connection
with campaign activity; and
(2) the aggregate amount of contributions in
connection with campaign activity accepted from a person exceeds
$2,000 during the reporting period.
(g) A report required under this section is not required to
include:
(1) any contributions accepted by the person or group
that are not contributions in connection with campaign activity;
(2) the total amount of unitemized political
contributions accepted by the person or group;
(3) the total amount of political contributions
maintained by the person or group;
(4) any expenditures made by the person or group that
are not political expenditures;
(5) the total amount of unitemized political
expenditures made by the person or group; or
(6) the principal amount of all of the person's or
group's outstanding loans.
(h) The first report required to be filed in a calendar year
in which the $2,000 or $25,000 threshold under Subsection (b) of
this section is exceeded must include all contributions in
connection with campaign activity accepted from a person that in
the aggregate exceed $2,000 and all political expenditures made in
the 12 months immediately preceding the acceptance of the
contribution in connection with campaign activity or the making of
the political expenditure that triggers the reporting requirements
of this section and not previously reported as required under this
section.
(i) A contribution consisting of personal travel expense
incurred by an individual is not required to be reported under this
section if the individual receives no reimbursement for the
expense.
(j) A contribution consisting of an individual's personal
service is not required to be reported under this section if the
individual receives no compensation for the service.
(k) A person to whom this section applies and who, not
acting in concert with another person, makes one or more direct
campaign expenditures in an election from the person's own property
is not required to comply with any requirements or procedures
established by the legislature for separately reporting the direct
campaign expenditures.
(l) Any state law generally applicable to reports of
political contributions and political expenditures filed with the
commission, including any penalty provision for untimely or
incomplete reports, is applicable to a report filed under this
section.
SECTION 2. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. (a) This temporary provision applies
to the constitutional amendment proposed by the 85th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2017, requiring certain persons or groups who are
not political committees to report certain contributions and
political expenditures.
(b) The constitutional amendment takes effect January 1,
2018.
(c) The change in law made by this amendment applies only to
the reporting of a contribution in connection with campaign
activity or political expenditure made on or after the effective
date of the amendment. A contribution or expenditure made before
the effective date of the amendment is governed by the law in effect
when the contribution or expenditure was made, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
(d) This temporary provision expires January 1, 2019.
SECTION 3. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 7, 2017.
The ballot shall be printed to provide for voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment requiring certain
persons or groups to report certain contributions and political
expenditures."