Campaign finance bill passes the House

I've had plenty of harsh things to say about House Elections Committee Chair Todd Smith this session, but he's always been one of the good guys on campaign finance reform.

Texas could start regulating how political parties use corporate and union campaign contributions under a bill the Texas House passed Friday 71 to 63.

House Bill 2511 would close what author Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, has called an "absurd" loophole that enables corporations and labor unions to escape a century-old ban against political donations by funding issue ads that stop short of urging a vote for or against a candidate.

Under the bill, donations from corporations and unions could only go toward a political party's or political action committee's administrative costs.

You may recall that a broad definition of just what "administrative costs" are was a key part of the fight over what TAB and TRMPAC did in the 2002 elections, as they had claimed things like polling were "administrative" in nature.

The Texas Pastor Council sent an email blast urging a vote against the bill.

"HB 2511 will censor free speech and drastically change how nonprofit organizations communicate with their supporters about important policy issues," the group wrote. "This very email could be ruled illegal under this proposed law, prohibiting nonprofits from highlighting elected officials and their bad votes on legislation affecting all Texans."

Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, said he head received a letter from a host of conservative groups including Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Eagle Forum and the Texas Alliance for Life that were worried about the bill.

"They are concerned that this will limit their ability to come out and talk about issues," King said.

If all those folks are against this bill, it must be doing something right. Though HB2511 only got 71 votes to pass, six of them were Republicans - Delwin Jones, Charlie Geren, Will Hartnett, Brian McCall, Tommy Merritt, and Smith; the latter three were coauthors of the bill, along with Rafael Anchia and Mark Strama. Still, I suspect that this won't make it through the Senate; that two-thirds rule that ol' Dan Patrick hates so much will surely see to its demise. A previous version of this bill died a messy death in the 2005 Lege amid allegations of partisan sniping at then-Speaker Tom Craddick. I like how now-former Rep. Terry Keel basically tells Tommy Merritt he'll never eat lunch in this town again in the aftermath of that. Karma sure is a strange thing sometimes.

UPDATE: Burka figures out the reason for the partisan split on this one.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 18, 2009 to That's our Lege