In a Texas bill introduced predominantly dealing with the ethics of public servants, the requirement for registering as a lobbyist in the state would be expanded.

House Bill 2737 amends the state’s lobbying law to include goodwill lobbying.

Specifically, the following definition is added: “Communicates directly with a member of the legislative or executive branch to influence legislation or administrative action” or any variation of the phrase includes establishing goodwill with the member for the purpose of later communicating with the member to influence legislation or administrative action.

A person would not be required to register if he or she spends 26 hours or less during the calendar quarter engaging in the communication. Additionally, the other current thresholds for determining whether registering as a lobbyist is required would remain.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Dennis Bonnen, also make changes concerning the regulations of political contributions and expenditures, political advertising, the conduct of public servants, and the reporting of personal financial information by public servants.

Photo of the Texas State Capitol courtesy of Kumar Appaiah on Wikipedia.