86R14396 TYPED
By: Leach H.B. No. 2586
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to direct campaign expenditures by political committees.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 251.001, Election Code, is amended by
amending subdivision (12) and adding new subdivisions (21) and (22)
to read as follows:
(12) "Political committee" means [a group of] two or
more persons acting in concert with [that has] a principal purpose
of accepting political contributions or making political
expenditures. The term does not include a group composed
exclusively of two or more individual filers or political
committees required to file reports under this title who make
reportable expenditures for a joint activity.
(21) "Acting in concert" means acting in cooperation
or consultation with another, or under an express or implied
agreement, to pursue a common activity.
(22) "In-kind contribution" is a contribution of
goods, services, or any other thing of value, except money, and
includes an agreement made or other obligation incurred, whether
legally enforceable or not, to make such a contribution. The term
does not include a direct campaign expenditure.
SECTION 2. Chapter 251, Election Code, is amended by adding
Section 251.0015 to read as follows:
Sec. 251.0015. AFFIDAVIT FOR MEETING. (a) For purposes of
Subsection 251.001(21), meeting with a candidate, or a candidate's
agent or staff, is not evidence of acting in concert with the
candidate for a person at the meeting who signs an affidavit in
accordance with Subsection (b) within five days after the meeting,
unless there is evidence that the person violated Section 37.02,
Penal Code, in signing the affidavit under Subsection (b).
(b) The affidavit must state that no person at the meeting
provided to another person during the meeting:
(1) mailing, email, or telephone lists;
(2) dates for prospective campaign communications;
(3) amounts being spent on prospective campaign
communications; or
(4) drafts or final proofs of prospective political
advertising.
SECTION 3. Section 252.003(a), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) In addition to the information required by Section
252.002, a campaign treasurer appointment by a general-purpose
committee must include:
(1) the full name, and any acronym of the name that
will be used in the name of the committee as provided by Subsection
(d), of each corporation, labor organization, or other association
or legal entity that directly establishes, administers, or controls
the committee, if applicable, or the name of each person who
determines to whom the committee makes contributions or the name of
each person who determines for what purposes the committee makes
expenditures;
(2) the full name and address of each general-purpose
committee to whom the committee intends to make political
contributions; [and]
(3) the name of the committee and, if the name is an
acronym, the words the acronym represents; and
(4) if the committee intends to use a political
contribution from a corporation or a labor organization to make any
direct campaign expenditures in connection with a campaign for an
elective office, an affidavit stating that:
(A) the committee is not established or
controlled by a candidate or an officeholder; and
(B) the committee will not use any political
contribution from a corporation or a labor organization to make a
political contribution to any:
(i) candidate for elective office;
(ii) officeholder; or
(iii) political committee that has not
filed an affidavit under this subdivision.
SECTION 4. Section 252.0031, Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 252.0031. CONTENTS OF APPOINTMENT BY SPECIFIC-PURPOSE
COMMITTEE. (a) In addition to the information required by Section
252.002, a campaign treasurer appointment by a specific-purpose
committee for supporting or opposing a candidate for an office
specified by Section 252.005(1) must include:
(1) the name of and the office sought by the candidate;
and
(2) if the committee intends to use a political
contribution from a corporation or a labor organization to make any
direct campaign expenditures in connection with a campaign for an
elective office, an affidavit in accordance with the requirements
of Section 252.003(a)(4).
(b) If [that] any of the information required to be included
in a specific-purpose committee's appointment changes, the
committee shall immediately file an amended appointment reflecting
the change.
(c) [(b)] The name of a specific-purpose committee for
supporting a candidate for an office specified by Section
252.005(1) must include the name of the candidate that the
committee supports.
SECTION 5. Subchapter D, Chapter 253, Election Code, is
amended by adding Section 253.097 to read as follows:
Sec. 253.097. CONTRIBUTION FOR DIRECT CAMPAIGN
EXPENDITURES. A corporation or labor organization may make
campaign contributions from its own property to a political
committee that has filed an affidavit with the commission in
accordance with Section 252.003(a)(4) or 252.0031(a)(2).
SECTION 6. Sections 253.100(a), (d) and (e), Election Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) A corporation, acting alone or with one or more other
corporations, may make one or more political expenditures to
finance the establishment or administration of a general-purpose
committee. In addition to any other expenditure that is considered
permissible under this section, a corporation may make an
expenditure for the maintenance and operation of a general-purpose
committee, including an expenditure for:
(1) office space maintenance and repairs;
(2) telephone and Internet services;
(3) office equipment;
(4) utilities;
(5) general office and meeting supplies;
(6) salaries for routine clerical, data entry, and
administrative assistance necessary for the proper administrative
operation of the committee;
(7) legal and accounting fees for the committee's
compliance with this title;
(8) routine administrative expenses incurred in
establishing and administering a general-purpose political
committee;
(9) management and supervision of the committee,
including expenses incurred in holding meetings of the committee's
governing body to interview candidates and make endorsements
relating to the committee's support;
(10) the recording of committee decisions;
(11) expenses incurred in hosting candidate forums in
which all candidates for a particular office in an election are
invited to participate on the same terms; or
(12) expenses incurred in preparing and delivering
committee contributions; or
(13) creation and maintenance of the committee's
public Internet webpages that do not contain political advertising.
(d) A corporation or labor organization may not make
expenditures under this section for:
(1) political consulting to support or oppose a
candidate;
(2) telephoning or telephone banks to communicate with
the public;
(3) brochures and direct mail supporting or opposing a
candidate;
(4) partisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote
drives;
(5) political fund-raising other than from its
stockholders or members, as applicable, or the families of its
stockholders or members;
(6) voter identification efforts, voter lists, or
voter databases that include persons other than its stockholders or
members, as applicable, or the families of its stockholders or
members;
(7) polling designed to support or oppose a candidate
other than of its stockholders or members, as applicable, or the
families of its stockholders or members; or
(8) recruiting candidates.
(e) Subsection (d) does not apply to a corporation or labor
organization making an expenditure [to communicate with its
stockholders or members, as applicable, or with the families of its
stockholders or members as provided] authorized by Section 253.097
or 253.098.
SECTION 7. Section 253.101, Election Code, is repealed.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.