86R9386 ATP-F
By: Howard H.B. No. 1886
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the availability on the Internet of personal financial
statements filed by public officials.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 572.032(a) and (c), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) Financial statements filed under this subchapter are
public records. The commission shall maintain the statements in
separate alphabetical files and in a manner that is accessible to
the public during regular office hours and make the statements
available to the public on the commission's Internet website.
(c) After the second anniversary of the date the individual
ceases to be a state officer, the commission may and on notification
from the former state officer shall:
(1) destroy each financial statement filed by the
state officer; and
(2) remove each financial statement filed by the state
officer from the commission's Internet website.
SECTION 2. Section 572.032(a-1), Government Code, as
amended by Chapters 34 (S.B. 1576) and 983 (H.B. 776), Acts of the
85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, is reenacted and amended
to read as follows:
(a-1) The commission shall remove the home address, the
telephone number, and the names of the dependent children of an
individual from a financial statement filed by the individual under
this subchapter before:
(1) permitting a member of the public to view the
statement;
(2) providing a copy of the statement to a member of
the public; or
(3) making the statement available to the public on
the commission's Internet website[, if the commission makes
statements filed under this subchapter available on its website].
SECTION 3. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Texas Ethics Commission shall make the financial
statements filed under Subchapter B, Chapter 572, Government Code,
available on the commission's Internet website, as provided by the
changes in law made by this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.