ITEM NO.1-Financial Disclosure
The gubernatorial financial disclosure form will be enhanced to include board affiliations, the identity of clients, job titles and descriptions, and value ranges for real property.
This revised governor's form will be implemented for a variety of actors in government:
* all statewide elected officials,
* executive branch department heads,
* legislators,
* all officials elected from voting districts with a population of five thousand or more,
* all members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and
* all members of the Ethics Board and its administrator,
* judges, unless the Judiciary Commission implements equivalent disclosure standards.
An alternate form of disclosure will be established for:
* all officials elected from a voting district with a population of less than five thousand and
* all appointees to statewide boards and commissions with authority to administer public funds of $10,000 per fiscal year.
This form includes:
* occupation and address;
* source and value ranges for income above $250 derived from the state or political subdivisions and gaming interests; and certification that income taxes have been filed.
* This financial disclosure is specifically targeted at state-related income.
* This disclosure will provide the public with the necessary information to determine if a potential conflict of interest exists-without discouraging candidates.
* For all of these offices, candidates will make the same disclosures as required for office holders.
ITEM NO.2-Conflicts of Interest
Legislators, their spouses, and businesses will no longer be allowed to enter any contracts with the state that are authorized or renewed during their term of office and for one year thereafter.
Negotiated contracts between the state and the adult children, siblings and parents of legislators and their spouses will also be prohibited.
Disclosure requirements will be required for all competitively bid contracts between the state and these individuals.
Legislators and statewide elected officials should not be able to profit from their position, especially at the expense of other businesses in the state.
Statewide elected officials, legislators, their spouses, and businesses will be prohibited from receiving recovery-related contracts during their term of office and for one year thereafter.
Statewide elected officials, heads of executive departments, and legislators will be prohibited from representing clients before any executive or legislative state agency.
Legislators will not receive any compensation for assisting with the execution or funding of any judgment against the state.
Immediate family members of statewide elected officials, executive branch department heads, and legislators will be prohibited from lobbying the official or their staff.
Legislators will be prohibited from performing lobbying services as a consultant.
Non-governmental entities will be required to submit a supplemental information form to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, who should make these forms readily available to the public.
The exception for elected officials that allows them to receive gifts in the form of cultural and sporting events will be repealed.
The legislature will be required to obtain a two-thirds vote to enact exceptions to the Ethics Code.
The exception that allows elected officials to prepare a written statement and proceed with casting a vote will be repealed.
ITEM NO.3-Transparency for Lobbyists
Lobbyists' registration forms will include compensation ranges, subject matter of lobbying activity, and business relationships with statewide elected officials, executive department heads, legislators and their spouses.
Lobbyists expenditure reports will include spending on spouses and dependant children of executive branch elected and appointed officials and legislators, subject matter of lobbying activities, and expenditure totals by category.
Lobbyists will be required to file monthly reports.
Lobbyist filings will be electronic and posted in an online, searchable database.
Contingency fee contracts for lobbyists will be prohibited.
Permissible spending on food and beverage for public servants will be limited to $50 per instance per public servant.
Lobbyists will disclose aggregate monthly expenditures in excess of $50 per public servant.
Penalties will be established for inaccurate or incomplete reporting by lobbyists.
Those lobbyists who file reports "with knowledge of its falsity" will face criminal penalties.
* Strong penalties should be automatically incurred in any instance of intentionally deceptive reporting by lobbyists.
* In Texas, intentional violations of the lobbying law are misdemeanors, punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a $4,000 fine
ITEM NO.4-Improving Education and Enforcement
Annual ethics training will be provided for all public servants, with testing and certification upon completion.
Annual ethics training will be required for all lobbyists.
Ethics Board members will be required to complete orientation and training prior to performing any function for the Board.
At least three members of the Ethics Board will be attorneys.
Greater separation between the Ethics Board's advisory, investigatory and prosecutorial functions will be required.
A confidential advisory process will be established. Opinions will be sterilized before publication to preserve the confidentiality of public servants requesting them.
The Ethics Board will expedite the process for, and maintain confidentiality during, the initial screening of complaints.
All complaints not warranting investigation will be summarily dismissed.
The Ethics Board will offer consent judgments for expedited compliance following an investigation, but before charges are filed. All final consent judgments will be made public.
The prosecutorial and adjudicatory processes will be made distinct by utilizing independent administrative law judges to preside over hearings and to rule on charges and penalties.
Objective criteria will be created for the Ethics Board's current authority to issue waivers and grant penalty reductions.
The prompt referral of unpaid fines to the Attorney General's office for collection proceedings will be mandated in law.
The Ethics Board will be required to maintain certain records for seven years, to file an annual performance report online, and to post "as soon as possible: all disclosure forms and reports of candidates, public officials, and lobbyists on the Ethics Board website in a searchable database.
Criminal penalties will apply for willful and fraudulent violations of the Ethics Code.
Public servants charged with a crime related to his or her public office will be suspended from duty.
Public servants convicted of a crime related to their public office will be required to forfeit the taxpayer portion of their pension.
Indicted legislators will be prohibited from serving on committees, subject to waiver by either chamber by two-thirds vote.
ITEM NO.5-Transparency and Public Access to Information
Reports of all state spending by agency and function will be posted online.
All legislative floor proceedings and committee hearings will be broadcast free of charge over the internet and archived for at least three years.
Legislators will be statutorily prohibited from changing votes after the completion of floor action.
An expedited and efficient administrative appeals process will be created to resolve disputes over access to public records.
Public employees who willfully violate the public records law and the open meeting law will be terminated.
The use of counter letters to circumvent the Ethics Code will be prohibited.
ITEM NO.6-Further Combating Fraud and Abuse
The Office of Inspector General will be created in statute.
Local inspector generals and ethical governing bodies will be authorized to issue and enforce subpoenas in state court and provided with confidentiality during investigations.
Whistleblower protection will be expanded to prohibit threats of reprisal to public servants.
Qui tam incentives and standing will be provided to citizens to pursue public fraud cases when the state refuses to act.
ITEM NO.7-Improve Campaign Finance Laws
Section 527 political groups will be required to disclose all contributors, contributions, and expenditures.
Third party political advertisements will be required to disclose the identity of the group sponsoring the advertisement on or within the advertisement itself.
Candidates for elected office will be prohibited from using campaign funds to pay family members.
Candidates for statewide and legislative offices will be prohibited from fundraising during regular legislative sessions.
Candidates will be required to successfully complete ethics training as a condition of qualifying.
Individuals with outstanding ethics fines will be prohibited from qualifying as a candidate for elected office.
Candidates will be required to request that contributors above $250 disclose the identify of their employers. Candidates will then disclose such information on campaign reports.
A $10,000 limit will be established for individuals and entities contributing to gubernatorial transition teams.
