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Texas Statutes (Last Updated: January 4, 2014) |
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GOVERNMENT CODE |
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Title 5. OPEN GOVERNMENT; ETHICS |
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Subtitle B. ETHICS |
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Chapter 572. PERSONAL FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE, STANDARDS OF CONDUCT, AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST |
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Subchapter C. STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST PROVISIONS |
Sec. 572.058. PRIVATE INTEREST IN MEASURE OR DECISION; DISCLOSURE; REMOVAL FROM OFFICE FOR VIOLATION
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(a) An elected or appointed officer, other than an officer subject to impeachment under Article XV, Section 2, of the Texas Constitution, who is a member of a board or commission having policy direction over a state agency and who has a personal or private interest in a measure, proposal, or decision pending before the board or commission shall publicly disclose the fact to the board or commission in a meeting called and held in compliance with Chapter 551. The officer may not vote or otherwise participate in the decision. The disclosure shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting.
(b) An individual who violates this section is subject to removal from office on the petition of the attorney general on the attorney general's own initiative or on the relation of a resident or of any other member of the board or commission. The suit must be brought in a district court of Travis County or of the county where the violation is alleged to have been committed.
(c) If the court or jury finds from a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant violated this section and that an ordinary prudent person would have known the individual's conduct to be a violation of this section, the court shall enter judgment removing the defendant from office.
(d) A suit under this section must be brought before the second anniversary of the date the violation is alleged to have been committed, or the suit is barred.
(e) The remedy provided by this section is cumulative of other methods of removal from office provided by the Texas Constitution or a statute of this state.
(f) In this section, "personal or private interest" has the same meaning as is given to it under Article III, Section 22, of the Texas Constitution, governing the conduct of members of the legislature. For purposes of this section, an individual does not have a "personal or private interest" in a measure, proposal, or decision if the individual is engaged in a profession, trade, or occupation and the individual's interest is the same as all others similarly engaged in the profession, trade, or occupation.