By: Middleton, et al. S.B. No. 19
(In the Senate - Filed February 20, 2025;
February 20, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on
State Affairs; March 5, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 1;
March 5, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 19 By: Perry
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the use by a political subdivision of public funds for
lobbying and certain other activities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 556, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 556.0056 to read as follows:
Sec. 556.0056. RESTRICTION ON USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS BY
POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS FOR LOBBYING ACTIVITIES. (a) A political
subdivision may not spend public funds:
(1) to hire an individual required to register as a
lobbyist under Chapter 305 for the purpose of lobbying a member of
the legislature; or
(2) to pay a nonprofit association or organization
that:
(A) primarily represents political subdivisions;
and
(B) hires or contracts with an individual
required to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305.
(b) Subsection (a) does not prohibit:
(1) an officer or employee of a political subdivision
from providing information for a member of the legislature or
appearing before a legislative committee;
(2) an elected officer of a political subdivision from
advocating for or against or otherwise influencing or attempting to
influence the outcome of legislation pending before the legislature
while acting as an officer of the political subdivision;
(3) an employee of a political subdivision from
advocating for or against or otherwise influencing or attempting to
influence the outcome of legislation pending before the legislature
if those actions would not require a person to register as a
lobbyist under Chapter 305;
(4) a political subdivision from reimbursing an
officer or full-time employee of the political subdivision for
direct travel expenses incurred by the officer or employee for
engaging in an activity described by Subdivision (1), (2), or (3);
or
(5) a full-time employee of a nonprofit association or
organization that primarily represents political subdivisions of
this state from:
(A) providing legislative services related to
bill tracking, bill analysis, and legislative alerts;
(B) communicating directly with a member of the
legislature to provide information if the communication would not
require a person to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305; or
(C) testifying for or against legislation before
the legislature.
(c) If a political subdivision engages in an activity
prohibited by Subsection (a), a taxpayer or resident of the
political subdivision is entitled to appropriate injunctive relief
to prevent further activity prohibited by that subsection and
further payment of public funds related to that activity.
(d) A taxpayer or resident who prevails in an action under
Subsection (c) is entitled to recover from the political
subdivision the taxpayer's or resident's reasonable attorney's fees
and costs incurred in bringing the action.
SECTION 2. Section 89.002, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 89.002. STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES. (a) Except as
provided by Section 556.0056, Government Code, the [The]
commissioners court may spend, in the name of the county, money from
the county's general fund for membership fees and dues of a
nonprofit state association of counties if:
(1) a majority of the court votes to approve
membership in the association;
(2) the association exists for the betterment of
county government and the benefit of all county officials;
(3) the association is not affiliated with a labor
organization; and
(4) [neither the association nor an employee of the
association directly or indirectly influences or attempts to
influence the outcome of any legislation pending before the
legislature, except that this subdivision does not prevent a person
from providing information for a member of the legislature or
appearing before a legislative committee at the request of the
committee or the member of the legislature; and
[(5)] neither the association nor an employee of the
association directly or indirectly contributes any money,
services, or other valuable thing to a political campaign or
endorses a candidate or group of candidates for public office.
(b) If any association or organization supported wholly or
partly by payments of tax receipts from political subdivisions
engages in an activity described by Subsection (a)(4) [or (5)], a
taxpayer of a political subdivision that pays fees or dues to the
association or organization is entitled to appropriate injunctive
relief to prevent any further activity described by Subsection
(a)(4) [or (5)] or any further payments of fees or dues.
SECTION 3. Section 556.0056, Government Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to an expenditure or payment of public funds
by a political subdivision that is made on or after the effective
date of this Act, including an expenditure or payment of public
funds by a political subdivision that is made under a contract
entered into before, on, or after the effective date of this Act. A
contract term providing for an expenditure or payment prohibited by
Section 556.0056, Government Code, as added by this Act, is void on
the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. Section 89.002, Local Government Code, as
amended by this Act, applies only to the spending of money by a
county from the county's general fund that occurs on or after the
effective date of this Act. The spending of money by a county from
the county's general fund that occurs before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
that purpose.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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