Texas Lawmakers Push to Enforce Election Transparency Law After Newsrooms Found School Districts Failed to Comply

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom focused on informing and engaging Texans, along with ProPublica, discovered that some school districts in Texas were not posting campaign finance reports online. As a result, lawmakers in Texas are working on legislation to impose penalties on local governments that fail to comply with the requirement. The proposed bill would empower the Texas Ethics Commission to monitor local government websites and issue fines if reports are not uploaded within 30 days of notification, with penalties of up to $2,500 per day until compliance is met. The bill has passed the Texas House and is awaiting approval from the Senate to become law. The goal is to ensure transparency and accountability in election spending by enforcing online posting of campaign finance reports.