Rules
Adopted

ADOPTED RULES

At its June 2024, meeting, the Texas Ethics Commission adopted amendments to Texas Ethics Commission Rules in Chapter 26. Specifically, the Commission adopted amendments to §26.1, regarding Disclosure Statement. The text of the proposed amended rule is located below.

§26.1. Disclosure Statement
(Effective August 8, 2024)
Text of Adopted Amended Rule

§26.1. Disclosure Statement.
Text of Adopted Amended Rule

The adopted new language is indicated by underlined text.
The deleted language is indicated by [strikethrough] text.

Chapter 26. POLITICAL ADVERTISING.

§ 26.1. Disclosure Statement.

(a) A disclosure statement that is required by §255.001, Election Code, must contain the words “political advertising” or any recognizable abbreviation, and must:

(1) appear on one line of text or on successive lines of text on the face of the political advertising; or

(2) be clearly spoken in the political advertising if the political advertising does not include written text.

(b) A disclosure statement is not required on political advertising printed on letterhead stationery if the letterhead contains the full name of one of the following:

(1) the person who paid for the political advertising;

(2) the political committee authorizing the political advertising; or

(3) the candidate authorizing the political advertising.

(c) A disclosure statement is not required on:

(1) campaign buttons, pins, or hats, or on objects whose size makes printing the disclosure impractical;

(2) political advertising posted or re-posted on an Internet website, as long as the person posting or re-posting the political advertising:

(iA) is not an officeholder, candidate, or political committee; [and]

(iiB) did not make an expenditure exceeding $100 in a reporting period for political advertising beyond the basic cost of hardware messaging software and bandwidth; and

(iiiC) did not post or re-post the political advertising in return for consideration.

(3) the Internet social media profile webpage of a candidate or officeholder, provided the webpage clearly and conspicuously displays the full name of the candidate or officeholder; or

(4) political advertising posted or re-posted by a person on an Internet website, provided the advertising is posted with a link to a publicly viewable Internet webpage that:

(iA) contains the disclosure statement; or

(iiB) is exempt from containing the disclosure statement under Subsection (c)(3).

(d) For the purposes of Subsection (c), an “Internet social media profile webpage” is an Internet webpage on a website where members of the public may, for no charge, connect electronically with other members of the public and share text, images, videos, and similar forms of communications.