Austin:  The Texas Legislature gave final approval today to a measure that will enable Texans in every corner of the state to use the Internet to search the campaign finance reports of their elected representatives.  The bill only needs the Governor's signature to become law.

"Passage of the electronic filing bill is the first step toward reforming political campaigns in Texas," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice.  "Because Texas politicians refuse to place reasonable limits on the size of campaign contributions, the only curb on special interest influence is a well-informed public. This bill brings a good dose of digital sunshine to the dark corners of Texas' special-interest politics."

The measure, HB 2611, was authored by Rep. Sherri Greenberg (D-Austin), and sponsored by Sen. Mike Moncrief (D-Fort Worth). The bill requires PACs and all Texas legislative and statewide candidates to deliver campaign contribution and expenditurte reports to the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) on computer disk, or transmit the reports directly through the Internet. The bill further instructs the TEC to post the reports in searchable database format on its website within 24 hours.

If signed by Gov. Bush, as expected, Rep. Greenberg's bill will require candidates to begin filing their reports electronically starting Jan. 1, 2000. The legislation provides reasonable exemptions from the electronic reporting requirement for candidates who raise less than $20,000 during the course of a campaign or do not use a computer to record contributions.

Currently, ordinary Texans who live outside the Austin region have three unappealing options if they want to see who funds the candidates who seek to represent them:

• travel to Austin to view the paper reports in person at the TEC;
• request the reports by mail at 10 cents a page; or
• request the reports by fax at $2 a page.

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