HBA-AMW H.B. 64 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 64 By: Wolens State Affairs 2/7/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To strengthen the faith and confidence of the people of Texas in state government by providing standards of conduct and disclosure requirements for public officials, the 63rd Legislature enacted financial disclosure legislation requiring certain officials to file financial disclosure statements with the state. These laws have been expanded several times to include other public officials. Under current law, municipal officers or candidates for municipal office filled by election or appointment are not required to file financial disclosure statements. House Bill 64 expands state disclosure laws to require municipal officers or candidates for municipal office to file financial disclosure statements. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 64 amends the Local Government Code to require a municipal officer or a candidate for a municipal office filled by election to file a financial statement with the clerk or secretary of the municipality in which the officer or candidate resides. The statement must comply with existing law regarding the general contents of financial statements and reporting finances by category. The bill provides that a financial statement filed by a candidate for a municipal office filled by election to be held on the third Saturday in January must include an account of the person's financial activity and the financial activity of the person's spouse and dependent children if the individual had actual control over that activity. The statement must include financial activity for the current calendar year if the filing deadline for the statement is on or before December 31, or for the preceding calendar year if the filing deadline for the statement is after December 31. H.B. 64 also provides that a municipal officer or candidate is not required to include in the statement financial activity that occurs before January 1, 2002. H.B. 64 specifies that a municipal officer or a candidate for a municipal office filled by election commits a Class B misdemeanor if the officer or candidate knowingly fails to file the required financial statement unless the officer or candidate did not receive copies of the financial statement form. The bill authorizes a person who determines that a person required to file a financial statement has failed to do so to notify in writing the municipal attorney of the municipality. The bill requires the municipal attorney, on receipt of the written notice, to determine from any available evidence whether the person to whom the notice relates has failed to file a statement and, on making that determination, to immediately send by certified mail a notice of the determination to the person responsible for filing the statement. The bill provides that if the municipal officer or candidate for municipal office fails to file the required statement before the 30th day after the date the person receives the notice from the municipal attorney, the person is civilly liable to the municipality for an amount not to exceed $1,000. The bill requires that the penalty be deposited to the credit of the general fund of the municipality. H.B. 64 creates provisions regarding the filing dates for the municipal officers and candidates for municipal office filled by election or appointment, the time in which statements are required to be filed, and the procedures for requesting and granting filing extensions. The bill also sets forth provisions regarding the preparation and distribution of forms for filing the required statements and provisions regarding duplicate or supplemental statements. H.B. 64 also creates provisions regarding public access to the financial statements and the retention and destruction of the statements by the clerk or secretary of the municipality. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001, and applies beginning December 1, 2002.