Texas Legislation Affecting Nonprofit Organizations Approaches Session’s End

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85th Texas Legislature, 2017 Regular Session
As of April 30, 2017

• Legislators race to the finish of session: 

With four weeks remaining in the 85th regular session, legislators are scrambling to get bills passed in their house and quickly referred to a friendly committee in the other house for quick action. There are now more than 7,000 bills and resolutions on file, depending on how you count them. Bills that passed one house but are not moving this week in the other house are likely dead “by the clock” for this session, unless the legislator is skillful in attaching the key elements of a short bill onto a compatible bill that is moving through the process and to final passage.

> Read and print the full summary here. [Read more…]

First Summary of Bills in the 2017 Texas Legislature Affecting Nonprofit Organizations

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Bill filing deadline has passed on the “60th day” of session:

A first snapshot of the variety of issues before the 2017 Texas Legislature is now available.  The 60th day has passed, which is the last day for senators and representatives to file bills.  There are now more than 7,000 bills and resolutions on file, depending on how you count them.  A bill may have a duplicate or companion bill filed in the other chamber, but there remain millions of lines of legislative text to manage before adjournment on May 29. [Read more…]

New “Form 1295” contract reporting law includes nonprofit vendors or grantees

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Many nonprofits may encounter a new compliance requirement that doesn’t make a lot of sense. The 2015 Texas legislative session saw a lot of activity regarding the contracting and procurement procedures of state and local government agencies. One result was the passage of House Bill 1295, which requires filing with the Texas Ethics Commission the new Form 1295 detailing the business or nonprofit organization entering into a contract of $1 million or more with a state or local government entity. [Read more…]

UT School of Law, January 2016 Conference Presentation

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Click to review my outline presentation.

• “Texas Legislative and Regulatory Update”
33rd Annual Nonprofit Organizations Institute, for The University of Texas School of Law/Conference of Southwest Foundations, January 14-15, 2016, Austin, Texas.