HBA-GUM H.B. 2749 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2749
By: Homer
Elections
3/29/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law does not provide disclosure guidelines for telephone voter
solicitation.  "Push polling," a form of telephone voter solicitation,
refers to the practice of sending a message to a voter through the use of
polling techniques.  Some "push polls" do not tally data, using the poll
instead solely to deliver a message to the voter.  H.B. 2749 extends
disclosure guidelines governing all other campaign advertising to telephone
voter solicitation. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 255, Election Code, by adding Section 255.009,
as follows: 

Sec. 255.009.  REQUIRED DISCLOSURE ON TELEPHONE ADVERTISING OR POLLS.
Requires a person, including a news organization, conducting a telephone
advertising campaign or poll for a political campaign to state the person's
full name, identify the candidate or political committee for whom the call
is being conducted, and state the location from which the person is
calling.  Provides that this section applies only to telephone advertising
campaigns or polls conducted by a person, or news organization, that is
affiliated or aligned with a political entity, or compensated by a
political entity.  Establishes that a violation of this section is subject
to a maximum penalty of $5,000, and  each conversation in which this
section is infracted constitutes a separate violation. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.