Filing a Campaign Finance Report
All General-Purpose PACs, all Specific-Purpose PACs that support or oppose any candidate/officeholder who files with the Ethics Commission or that support or oppose a measure submitted to the voters of the entire state or that were created to support or oppose a measure on the issuance of bonds by a school district, and all candidates/officeholders reporting use of unexpended contributions as a committee must file with the Ethics Commission. You must select a filer type of either GPAC, MPAC, SPAC, JSPC, SCPC, or ASIF-SPAC.
For additional information regarding the different types of political committees and their filing requirements, please see the Campaign Finance Guide for Political Committees.
If you don't know if you have a Filer ID, see Filer ID below.
If you can't login to your account because you forgot your password, you can click Forgot Password? at the login screen to reset your password. For more information, see Forgot Password below.
If you already have a Filer ID and will be filing electronically, use the LOGIN below to access your account. If you are not sure if you file electronically, see Who Has to File Electronically? below.
If you qualify to file paper reports, remember EACH REPORT must be accompanied by the proper exemption affidavit. Speaker reports can only be filed electronically.
If you are a new filer and are unsure whether you file with TEC or a local filing authority, see "Filing as TEC or Local Filer?". All TEC filers will be assigned an 8 digit Filer ID number, sometimes called an account number, like 00049300. The only exception to this rule are Governor For A Day and Speaker Day Reunion filers which do not have filer id's and file on paper only.
If you are a TEC filer and do not have a filer id, you will most likely need to file a Treasurer Appointment form in order to be assigned a number. Exception filers that do not file a TA in order to be assigned a filer id:
- DCE filers that are organized as a PAC commonly refered to as Super PAC will need to file a Statement to Act as Direct Campaign Expenditure Only Committee affidavit.
- LEG filers will need to send a letter to the commission indicating that they are being created. See the Guidelines for Forming Legislative Caucus.
- SPK filers will need to send a Declaration of Speaker Candidacy to the commission even though they will use the same filer id as they use for their candidate/officeholder account.
- Lobbyists will need to file Filer ID Request/Name Change form.
- Appointees will need to have a letter sent by their appointer (usually the governor or an executive head).
If you are a new TEC filer and do not qualify to file on paper, you must also submit a Form SECURITY to gain access to the Commission’s electronic filing application.
The filing application can be started by using a personal computer or laptop, a Mac desktop computer or MacBook, or a Tablet to bring up a browser window. Acceptable browsers and their minimal version level are:
- Chrome 4
- Firefox 15
- Opera 12.1
- Safari 4
- Internet Explorer 9 (IE is no longer supported by Microsoft and is not recommended)
Due to a change in the law, effective January 20th, 2024, the Texas Ethics Commission changed the Expenditures Import files. All Schedule F4 expenditures need to include the name of the financial institution that issued the credit card that was used for the expenditure transaction along with the dates, if any, during the reporting period on which the credit card company was repaid.
- Campaign Finance Import Guide/Instructions
- Contributions Template
- Expenditures Template
- Expenditures Template (with child records)
- CSV Import File Format Verifier Application
- Video: How to Import Contributions and Expenditures
Committee Types
If you are unsure which type of political committee your group is, or whether you are a political committee, please refer to our Political Committee Guide
All general-purpose committees (GPACs) are required to file with the Ethics Commission. A general-purpose committee that elects to file monthly reports is a MPAC.
Specific-purpose committees (SPACs) that support or oppose candidates or officeholder who file with the Ethics Commission are also required to file with the Ethics Commission. A specific-purpose committee for supporting or opposing judicial candidates or officeholders is a JSPAC. SPACs that support or oppose a measure that is voted on statewide are required to file with the Ethics Commission. SPACs that support or oppose school bond measures are required to file the campaign treasurer appointment locally and campaign finance reports with the Ethics Commission.
A political committee that supports or opposes a candidate for state chair of a political party with a nominee on the ballot in the most recent gubernatorial election, or a candidate for county chair of a political party with a nominee on the ballot in the most recent gubernatorial general election and in a county with a population of 350,000 or more file with the Ethics Commission (SCPC).
A political committee (either a GPAC or SPAC) is permitted to accept political contributions from corporations or labor organizations and use them to make direct campaign expenditures in connection with a campaign for elective office if it files certain forms as required by state law. Before making such expenditures, the committee must include in its campaign treasurer appointment an affidavit, containing specific language. The affidavit must state that:
- The committee is not established or controlled by a candidate or an officeholder; and
- The committee will not use any political contribution from a corporation or a labor organization to make a political contribution to:
- a candidate for elective office;
- an officeholder; or
- a political committee that has not filed an affidavit stating the same.
This affidavit is included in the Commission’s campaign treasurer appointment forms (Form GTA for general-purpose committees and Form STA for specific-purpose committees) and amendments to those forms (Form AGTA and Form ASTA).
This affidavit is also required for any political committee that wishes to use political contributions from corporations or labor organizations to make direct campaign expenditures in connection with a campaign for elective office, including, if applicable, a Direct Campaign Expenditure-Only Committee.
These committees can be either General-Purpose or Specific-Purpose.
For additional information regarding the different types of political committees and their filing requirements, please see the Campaign Finance Guide for Political Committees.
A political committee that intends to act exclusively as a Direct Campaign Expenditure Only Committee (DCE Only Committee) must file with the Ethics Commission an affidavit that contains the language required by section 253.105 of the Election Code before accepting a political contribution from a corporation or labor organization. A committee may create and file its own affidavit with the required language or it may request an affidavit from the Commission. These committees are commonly referred to as “Super PACs.”
These committees can be either General-Purpose or Specific-Purpose, but they do not make political contributions directly to candidates, officeholders, or other committees that are established or controlled by a candidate or officeholder.
Such a committee must also include an additional separate statement in its campaign treasurer appointment before it uses such contributions to make a direct campaign expenditure in connection with a campaign for elective office. This separate statement must be filed using the appropriate campaign treasurer appointment form prescribed by the Commission.
Former candidates and officeholders who use leftover contributions to contribute to other candidates or committees that file with the Ethics Commission are required to file a report with the Ethics Commission as if they were treasurer of a specific-purpose committee (AS IF-SPAC).
Laws/Rules/Regulations
Publications/Guides/FAQs
- Campaign Finance Guide for Political Committees
- Campaign Finance Guide for Judicial Candidates and Officerholders
(used by JSPACs that support/oppose/assist certain judicial officeholders) - Political Advertising: What You Need To Know
- Legislative Advertising: What You Need to Know To Insure Compliance With The Law
- Rules for Posting Campaign Signs: Information from TxDOT on the rules for posting campaign signs