6.5: Regulation of Interest Groups in Texas

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 129135

$ \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } $ $ \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} $$\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}$ $ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$ $ \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}$ $ \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}$ $ \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}$ $ \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}$ $ \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}$ $ \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}$ $ \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}$ $ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$ $\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}$ $ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$ $ \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}$ $ \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}$ $ \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}$ $ \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}$ $ \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}$ $ \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}$ $ \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}$ $ \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}$$\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}$

Compared to other states, Texas places very few limits on the tactics, activities, and financial dealings of interest groups, but it places a high value on transparency.

The Texas Ethics Commission

The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), referred to at the beginning of this chapter, was created by a state constitutional amendment to the Texas Constitution to prevent the kind of corruption that transpired in the Sharpstown scandal. It was established in 1991 to supervise and support the application of various public ethics laws. The TEC consists of eight members. Four members are appointed by the governor, two by the lieutenant governor, and two by the speaker of the House. Appointees must be selected equally from lists recommended by the Republican and Democratic members in the Texas House and Senate. No more than four members may be from the same political party.⁴⁵

The TEC is constitutionally empowered to recommend the compensation for members of the Texas legislature, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. For example, it recommends salary increases for members of the legislature, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house, and it also sets per diem rates for state officials..

The Texas Ethics Commission: Political Contributions and Expenditures

The TEC requires disclosures from public officials and those seeking to influence their elections and decision-making. The TEC provisions, among others, require a person who exceeds either a compensation or expenditure threshold to register with the TEC and to file periodic reports of lobbying activity It oversees the filing of financial disclosure statements for government officials and the filing of campaign finance regulatory statements by candidates and citizens who engage in political speech related to campaigns and elections. The TEC provisions, among others, require a person who exceeds either a compensation or expenditure threshold to register with the TEC and to file periodic reports of lobbying activity. Lobbyists who receive more than $1000 per calendar quarter for lobbying or spend “more than $500 in a calendar quarter to benefit a state officer or employee (or his or her immediate family) when the expenditures are made to communicate to influence legislation or administrative action” must register with the TEC.”⁴⁶ Registration is $750 per year, with a reduced fee for lobbyists representing non-profit groups. Registered lobbyists file monthly activity reports listing their clients and specific expenditures. Gifts to officials are limited to $500 per year, and any gift with a value of more than fifty dollars must be reported. Fines of up to $10,000 and criminal punishments as high as a second-degree felony may be pursued against violators.⁴⁷

An interest group in Texas can give an unlimited amount of money to a political campaign, but it must disclose its contributions to the TEC. Candidates and parties who receive contributions must also disclose that information. A PAC’s treasurer must file contribution and expenditure reports twice a year, with additional reports due prior to any election in which it is involved.

Politicians have demonstrated an unquenchable thirst for campaign funds. In most cases, the sources of the money raised by politicians and political groups are publicly disclosed. Candidates, parties, and political action committees—including the super PACs that are allowed to accept unlimited amounts of money—all report the names of their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a regular basis.⁴⁸ However, through the years, national and state legislators have passed laws that have provided themselves with additional avenues for satisfying the need to accumulate funds. More recently, candidates for public office in Texas are consistently relying upon dark money (spending meant to influence political outcomes where the source of the money is not disclosed) to finance their campaigns.⁴⁹

When PACs choose not to reveal their sources of funding, they are considered dark money groups. For example, politically active nonprofits such as 501(c)(4)s are generally under no legal obligation to disclose their donors even if they spend to influence elections. These nonprofits and shell companies (an inactive company specifically designed and used as a vehicle for these kinds of financial maneuvers) may give unlimited amounts of money to super PACs. While super PACs are legally required to disclose their donors, some of these groups are effectively dark money outlets when the bulk of their funding has come through shell companies and nonprofits such that it cannot be traced back to the original donor.⁵⁰ Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC⁵¹ in 2010 (which allowed unlimited political contributions by corporations, labor unions, and associations and ultimately prompted an exponential increase in politically active nonprofit organizations), dark money groups have spent roughly one billion dollars.⁵² That amount accounts for nearly one-half of outside spending in elections.⁵³

Non-Financial Duties of the TEC

Since 1991, the TEC has also been charged with a number of other tasks that are not directly related to money. It provides advisory opinions (nonbinding interpretations of certain laws), and regulates and monitors lobbyist registration.⁵⁴ Most of its administrative, supervisory, regulatory, advisory, investigative, and enforcement powers and responsibilities are authorized by various provisions of the Texas Ethics Code, the Texas Government Code, and Texas Administrative Code, all of which were propounded by the state legislature.⁵⁵ The TEC is also charged with producing educational materials and providing training programs for other groups affected by laws administered by the TEC.⁵⁶. Specifically, the TEC provides detailed information about the following topics:

resources relating to advertising, campaign finance, deadlines, laws and regulations, legislative reports, lobbying, local filing requirements, and personal financial statements;
court opinions, statutes and codes enacted by the legislature, and Commission rules and regulations;
filing requirements for candidates, campaigns, and lobbyists;
training programs for government officials and the public; and
forms and instructions for by candidates and their campaign treasurers, political action committees, political parties, individuals, caucuses, and lobbyists.

The TEC also educates candidates, the public, and others about the prohibitions against bribery, honorarium, and gifts and defines acceptable uses for political contributions and expenditures for political advertising. The monumental tasks conducted by the TEC are achieved mostly through the use of its website (https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/).

Local Regulation

Some local governments in Texas can place additional restrictions on interest groups. The City of Houston requires everyone who lobbies their city government to register—defining lobbying as either spending or being paid at least $200 in a calendar quarter or $800 in a calendar year “to influence municipal legislation or administrative action on behalf of the employer by whom the person is compensated or reimbursed.”⁵⁷ To register as a lobbyist in the City of Houston costs $291.87 per year and is due along with a registration form within five working days of the lobbyist’s first communication with a city official.⁵⁸ After registering, lobbyists in Houston file quarterly reports detailing any spending on communications with city officials, from the cost of buying breakfast for the mayor to the price of a ticket to take a city council member to a ballgame. As of October 2019, there were 130 people registered as lobbyists with the City of Houston.

45. Texas Ethics Commission, “Promoting Public Confidence in Government,” Jan. 10, 2017, https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/about/Bethic.pdf.

46. “Starting to Lobby,” Texas Ethics Commission, 2020, https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/resou...rtEndLobby.php.

47. Houston, Texas, Municipal Code, Art.V, §. 18 (October 20, 2019).

48. Michael Beckel, “What Is Political ‘Dark Money’ --- and is it Bad?“ The Center for Public Integrity, Jan.20, 2016, https://publicintegrity.org/politics...and-is-it-bad/.

49. Karl Evers-Hillstrom. “More Money, Less Transparency: A Decade Under Citizens United,” OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics, Jan.14, 2020, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/rep...itizens-united .

50. Evers-Hillstrom, “More Money, Less Transparency,” https://www.opensecrets.org/news/rep...itizens-united

51. Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010).

52. Evers-Hillstrom, “More Money, Less Transparency,” https://www.opensecrets.org/news/rep...itizens-united.

53. Beckel, “What Is ‘Dark Money,’” https://publicintegrity.org/politics...and-is-it-bad/.

54. John G. Johnson, “Texas Ethics Commission,” Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas, Feb. 27, 2021, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/...ics-commission.

55. Texas Ethics Commission,”Promoting Public Confidence,” https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/about/Bethic.pdf.

56. Texas Ethics Commission, “Promoting Public Confidence,” https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/about/Bethic.pdf.

57. to come

58. City of Houston, City Fee Schedule, https://cohweb.houstontx.gov/FIN_Fee...e/default.aspx. Retrieved October 20, 2019