The law says a former member of the Legislature cannot engage in activities that require them to register as a lobbyist if they have made a political contribution using campaign funds in the past two years.
Sign up for The BriefA 2019 law aimed at cracking down on the revolving door of lobbyists at the Texas Capitol is ensnaring two recent legislators and prompting state ethics regulators to address potential loopholes.
“I recently registered with the Ethics Commission with the intent of engaging in lobby activity,” Paddie said in a statement. “However, I have not yet engaged in that activity and have suspended my registration with the Ethics Commission.”Lucio’s case is a little more unusual. When he shut down his campaign account earlier this year, he sought to retroactively comply with the 2019 law by seeking refunds of all the political contributions that he thought he had made in the last two years.
All lawmakers have a “candidate/officeholder account” that is traditionally the main vehicle for their campaign finances. But some choose to raise and spend money out of other committees — often “special-purpose” committees — to allow for more flexibility.The opinion said those committees can count, too, if the commission has to consider whether a lawmaker-turned-lobbyists has used campaign funds for political contributions in the past two years.
Furthermore, during a commission meeting last week, Commissioner Steve Wolens said he was concerned about the constitutionality of the law in the first place. It is unclear if lawmakers knew exactly what they were voting on when they passed HB 2677 in 2019. Goldman gave a brief presentation of the bill that focused on a provision banning lawmakers-turned-lobbyists from making present-day political contributions from their leftover campaign funds.
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