Texas'
campaign disclosure program did very well in the study,
ranking among the top five states in the nation. Texas
received an A- in the area of Disclosure Content Accessibility,
but its D+ in web site usability and overall C+ grade is
an indication that even top-ranked states have room to
improve.
The
state's campaign disclosure law is above average. Candidates
must file two pre-election reports, the last due eight days before
the election, plus two reports in non-election years. Details
about contributors who give more than $50 must be reported, but
occupation and employer information is required only for judicial
campaigns. Last-minute contributions of $1,000 or more
to a statewide or state senate candidate ($200 or more for a
state representative) must be disclosed within 48 hours of being
made. Expenditures of over $50 must be reported, but subvendor
information does not have to be disclosed. Independent
expenditures and last-minute independent expenditures must be
reported at varying thresholds. Texas has mandatory electronic
filing for candidates who reach a threshold of $20,000, unless
the filer states that his or her committee does not use a computer
for campaign data. The state does provide filers with
free software and web-based filing, and offers training
for the system as well.
Texas
does an excellent job of making campaign finance information
accessible to the public. The Ethics Commission web site
contains at least some data for every candidate; complete
reports are there for electronic filers, summary data only
is posted for paper filers. The site features searchable databases
of both contributions and expenditures with search results
that can be sorted and downloaded, plus self-contained filings
for downloading or browsing online. To raise its A- accessibility
grade to an A, the state could add detailed data for paper
filers to its site and increase the speed with which campaign
finance reports are posted to the disclosure web site. Electronic
filings are generally available within two days of the
filing deadline; however, sometimes they are not posted
until the reports for all candidates seeking the same office
have been submitted, which can delay the availability of
reports for weeks.
Texas
has good contextual information on its disclosure web
site compared to many other states, but could improve
in a number of ways. On the positive side, a format for viewing
filings allows site visitors to see clearly the whole universe
of reports filed by each candidate, and there are also compilations
of total amounts raised and spent by each candidate in elections
from 1996 to 2002. On the negative side, disclosure reporting
periods are not included in the index of each candidate's
reports, original filings are not retained in cases where
amendments have been filed (they now replace originals
online) terminology is not very clear, and web site design
could be improved.
Texas'
performance in the usability testing was mixed. All
testers found the Ethics Commission site from the state
homepage within two minutes, but many were not able to
retrieve summary data or individual contributor information
at all, perhaps due to the confusion of the site having
multiple interfaces for searching along with some navigation
and terminology problems.
