Bill Tracker: HB 110 – Limitations on Campaigns

Our Presidential hopefuls have been busy. Raising $25 million dollars in a few months at $2,300 clips is quite difficult. By comparison, Texas political hopefuls do not have any limitations on how much they can raise from one particular individual.

That may change. HB 110, the Texas Campaign Fairness Act, seeks to limit campaigns in statewide races in three very distinct ways: individual contributions, expenditure limits, and personal funds limits.

The personal contributions limitations would apply only to statewide office in the executive branch, office of state senator, office of state representative, and office of member of the State Board of Education. The contribution limits would be: $2,000 for a statewide office, $1,000 for state senator, $500 for state representative, or $1,500 for a member of the State Board of Education.

I bolded the “or” because these contribution limits are an aggregate total.

This bill goes even further in that it limits the total expenditures of a candidate. Race for governor would be limited to $5 million. State senator: $1 million. State Representative: $500,000. State Board of Education: $1 million.

A violation of these limits is punishable by a civil penalty not to exceed three times the amount by which the political expenditures made exceed the limits.

The final notable feature of this bill is that it limits the amount that candidates can give to their own campaigns. The limit for statewide office is $100,000. Any office other than statewide is $50,000.

Currently, 37 states have campaign limits for state races. Will Texas join them?