Texas lobbying and campaign finance thresholds have increased to reflect changes in the consumer price index.

The thresholds for lobbyist compensation and reimbursement increased from $1,760 to $1,870.

Lobbyist expenditures increased from $810 to $820 per calendar quarter, not including expenditures for an individual’s travel, food, lodging, or membership dues.

If a lobbyist does not intend to exceed $2,150 during a calendar year in expenditures, the lobbyist may file an annual report due on January 10.

Salary reporting thresholds have also increased.

Compensation or reimbursement required to be reported must be reported as an exact amount if the compensation or reimbursement received exceeds $1,076,130.

Regarding campaign finance, a general-purpose and specific-purpose committee may not accept political contributions or expenditures totaling more than $1,050 without filing a campaign treasurer appointment.

Other changes include PAC contribution and expenditure report increases for the amount of political contributions from each person in the aggregate exceeding $110 during the reporting period; the amount of loans that exceed in the aggregate $140; and the amount of political expenditures that exceed in the aggregate $220.

The Texas Legislature adjourned its third special session November 7 and announced a fourth special session on the same day to address the unresolved issue of school vouchers.

In Gov. Greg Abbott’s special session proclamation, he acknowledged the Texas Legislature made progress over the past month protecting Texans from forced COVID-19 vaccinations and increasing penalties for human smuggling but said more work must be done.

The agenda items of the fourth special session include the establishment of an education savings account program, and state border security.

Q: My organization wants to sponsor a reception in Texas. State legislators, staff, and family members are likely to be in attendance. As a registered lobbyist, what are my limits and reporting obligations?

As a registered lobbyist, there are several items to keep in mind when sponsoring an event. First, a lobbyist can provide an unlimited amount of food and beverage to an official, employee, immediate family member, or guest when the lobbyist attends the event. If not present at the event, food and beverage expenditures are limited to $100 or less.

Next, when engaging with officials at the event, sponsorship is considered a lobbying expenditure and will need to be disclosed on the appropriate lobbying report. These reports break expenditures down by type (food and beverage, entertainment, transportation, etc.) and by recipient. This may seem straightforward, but if your sponsorship goes to the organizing entity, how do you know how your dollars are being used?

The state provides some guidance here. When reporting expenditures for a reception or banquet type event, the Food and Beverage category includes all items needed to hold the event such as room rental, table settings, and printing costs. Other categories may need to be included depending on the specific event.

Additionally, you will need to know who among the attendees are in a reportable category of persons benefitted. Generally, this is state senators/representatives, state officers, state employees, immediate family members, and guests. If a combination of these groups are in attendance, or a combination of covered and non-covered individuals, the expenditure should be divided appropriately based on the numbers in each category. If all members of the legislature are invited, the entire expenditure is reported under that category. As long as all members are invited, it does not matter how many actually attend.

Finally, keep in mind the detailed reporting threshold. If the per person costs exceed the threshold, currently $132.60, the individuals must be identified and other details disclosed.

For more information, please see the “Reports Required” and “Gift Law” sections of the Lobbying Compliance Laws online  publication for Texas. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set June 14 as the date for an emergency special election to fill the House seat vacated by Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela.

Vela resigned from Congress on March 31 just months before the end of his current term that would have ended in January. Vela is among 31 House Democrats who said they would not seek reelection this year.

The winner of the election will only have the seat for five months before the November midterms determine who will represent the 34th Congressional District for the following two years.

The Texas Ethics Commission posted the 2022 lobbying registration thresholds, which increase every year in January to reflect the change in the consumer price index.

The thresholds for individual lobbyist compensation and reimbursement increased from $1,620 to $1,640.

Expenditures increased from $810 to $820 per calendar quarter, not including expenditures for an individual’s travel, food, lodging, or membership dues.

If a lobbyist does not intend to exceed $1,890 during a calendar year in lobbying expenditures, the lobbyist may file an annual report, due on January 10.

The previous threshold for 2021 was $1,860.

Salary reporting thresholds have also increased.

Compensation or reimbursement required to be reported must be reported as an exact amount if the compensation or reimbursement received exceeds $944,430.

The previous exact amount threshold for 2021 was $931,500.

Early voting for Austin, Texas’s District 4 election has begun.

The election was called following Greg Casar’s announcement he will be running for Congress in District 35.

Early voting will be open until January 21, with polls closed on January 17 in observation of Martin Luther King Day.

The election will be held on Tuesday, January 25.

A special election for Houston City Council District G is scheduled for January 25, 2022.

The special election was called after former incumbent Greg Travis resigned on October 27 to run for the District 133 seat in the Texas House of Representatives.

Travis served on the 16-member Houston City Council from 2016 to 2021.

Five candidates filed to run in the special election by the deadline: Mary Nan Huffman, Piper Madland, D. Duke Millard, Raul Reyes Jr., and Houshang Taghizadeh.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected September 28 as the date of the House District 118 special election to replace former state Rep. Leo Pacheco.

Pacheco resigned effective August 19 to accept a position with San Antonio College.

House District 118 is in San Antonio and covers parts of Bexar County south and east of the city.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling state lawmakers back for a third special session on September 20 to begin redrawing legislative and Congressional districts.

Gov. Abbott also added other items to the agenda, including how to distribute federal pandemic aid and whether local governments can mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for employees.

The focus of the special session, however, will be squarely on redistricting, which occurs every 10 years after the release of new census data.

The state population grew by more than 4 million people since 2010. As a result, Texas gained two new Congressional seats and lawmakers must determine where to put them.

In addition, lawmakers will redraw their own Texas House and Senate districts to consider population growth and decline.

On August 19, the Texas House of Representatives once again held quorum for the first time in over a month.

With the House in quorum, lawmakers can take up several bills including House Bill 77 and 87.

House Bill 77 prohibits the use of public funds by political subdivisions for the purposes of lobbying activities.

House Bill 87 places limitations on campaign contributions to state candidates from persons and committees.

Texas Gov. Abbott announced a special election on November 2 for eight proposed constitutional amendments approved by the Texas Legislature during the 87th session.

The amendments include a prohibition on state or local restrictions on religious services and a provision allowing certain charitable raffles at rodeo venues.

On August 6, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a special election for State House District 10 is to be held on August 31 to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Representative Jake Ellzey to the 6th Congressional District on July 27.

As of the candidate filing deadline of August 12, there are a total of eight candidates running for this seat.

If necessary, a special general runoff election will be scheduled.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Ellzey’s term through January 2023.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on August 5 that a second special legislative session will begin at noon August 7 with an expanded agenda.

The 17-item agenda still includes well-known Abbott priorities like the election bill that caused House Democrats to flee the state at the start of the first special session, which ends August 6.

The special session also features six additions, including the spending of federal COVID-19 relief funds and potentially changing the legislative rules regarding quorums.

There is also a new item on public education during the pandemic, an increasingly salient issue as parents prepare to send their kids back to school with the virus on the rise again in Texas.

No adjournment date has been set yet for the second special session.

A Texas House bill relating to restrictions on accepting political contributions has passed.

House Bill 2283 provides the joint elections commission, county election commission, and county election board may not accept a contribution of $1,000 or more, including the value of in-kind donations, offered by a private individual or a business entity, including a corporation, partnership, or trust, or another third party.

Under the bill, the joint elections commission, county election commission, and county election board may accept a contribution of less than $1,000 only with written consent from the relevant political subdivision.

The bill will take effect September 1.