Texans for Public Justice

609 West 18th St., Suite E, Austin, Texas 78701 ·PH:(512) 472-9770 ·FAX:(512) 472-9830
 
For Immediate Release:
Sunday, May 30, 1999
Contact Craig McDonald
 (512) 472-9770
Forecast: Digital Sunshine Coming to Texas

Legislature's approval of electronic filing bill called "first step toward reform;"  data will be posted on state agency web site


Austin:  The Texas Legislature gave final approval today to a measure that will enable Texans in every corner of the state to use the Internet to search the campaign finance reports of their elected representatives.  The bill only needs the Governor's signature to become law.

"Passage of the electronic filing bill is the first step toward reforming political campaigns in Texas," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice.  "Because Texas politicians refuse to place reasonable limits on the size of campaign contributions, the only curb on special interest influence is a well-informed public. This bill brings a good dose of digital sunshine to the dark corners of Texas' special-interest politics."

The measure, HB 2611, was authored by Rep. Sherri Greenberg (D-Austin), and sponsored by Sen. Mike Moncrief (D-Fort Worth). The bill requires PACs and all Texas legislative and statewide candidates to deliver campaign contribution and expenditurte reports to the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) on computer disk, or transmit the reports directly through the Internet. The bill further instructs the TEC to post the reports in searchable database format on its website within 24 hours.

If signed by Gov. Bush, as expected, Rep. Greenberg's bill will require candidates to begin filing their reports electronically starting Jan. 1, 2000. The legislation provides reasonable exemptions from the electronic reporting requirement for candidates who raise less than $20,000 during the course of a campaign or do not use a computer to record contributions.

Currently, ordinary Texans who live outside the Austin region have three unappealing options if they want to see who funds the candidates who seek to represent them:

 The Coalition for Electronic Filing, which included Texans for Public Justice, brought a broad spectrum of political support to HB 2611. The coalition consists of 13 civic-minded groups that feel that current limits on public access to campaign reports are unreasonable.  The Coalition includes religious, business, consumer, environmental and good government advocates.  The concept of mandatory electronic filing was endorsed by at least 10 Texas daily newspapers since February, including the Austin American-Statesman, the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, the El Paso Times, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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Texans for Public Justice is a non-profit, non-partisan research and advocacy
organization that tracks the role of money in Texas politics.


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