House tentatively approves revamping Texas Ethics Commission

 Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, is pictured here talking to former Gov. Rick Perry during the 2013 session. (The Dallas Morning News)

The Texas Ethics Commission would get more enforcement power in a bill overhauling the entity that passed in the House late Monday night.

This bill is among the those addressing ethics, something Gov. Greg Abbott declared one of his emergency items of the session. It was approved overwhelmingly though there was much debate on failed amendments that would have required elected school trustees to file personal financial disclosures and dismissed ethics complaints not completed within a year.

The legislation -- carried by Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place -- would allow for the Texas Ethics Commission to disclose confidential information to law enforcement agencies. But that would be limited to the law enforcement agency and any other disclosure of such confidential information would be a Class C misdemeanor.

Rep. Bill Zedler, R-Arlington, wanted to require that the commission take a public vote before referring cases to law enforcement saying he wanted to ensure that it wasn't used as a tool to get back at political enemies. He pointed to similar allegations that Wisconsin's ethics commission referred secretly for that reason.

"It led to police raids on people's home to seize computers and mobile phones," Zedler said. "If we're going to have the ethics commission refer complaints to the police, then they need to vote for them openly and publicly so that in essence the public can see what this is."

But Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, said requiring such a vote is tricky because the commission could be referring a case when it's unclear if any laws are broken. "You've now put a target, politically or otherwise, on that individual that's the scope or source of that," Phillips said.

Davis' bill also would allow for the commission to go after those filing frivolous complaints by tightening up language on what constitutes a frivolous complaint, such as those that are baseless and filed for harassment reasons. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, had wanted an amendment added that would have allowed for the person subjected to a complaint found frivolous to recoup attorney costs and other fees from those initiating the case. But that amendment failed.

The bill was overwhelmingly opposed by representatives from Empower Texans, whose president

Michael Quinn Sullivan

was hit by the commission with a $10,000 fine for failing to register as a lobbyist.

But as the governor calls for a cleanup of Texas politics, the House did reject another bill that would have required lawmakers to file a more detailed financial reports. They would have had to report dollar value versus the amount of shares owned, a description of gifts received and details of retirement benefits. It would also make those statements available online.

The bill failed 53-87. But some of the provisions will come back for debate as many are included in the omnibus

ethics bill approved by the Senate





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