Sec. 253.155. CONTRIBUTION LIMITS. (a) Subject to Section 253.1621, a judicial candidate or officeholder may not, except as provided by Subsection (c), knowingly accept political contributions from a person that in the aggregate exceed the limits prescribed by Subsection (b) in connection with each election in which the person is involved.
(b) The contribution limits are:
(1) for a statewide judicial office, $5,000; or
(2) for any other judicial office:
(A) $1,000, if the population of the judicial district is less than 250,000;
(B) $2,500, if the population of the judicial district is 250,000 to one million; or
(C) $5,000, if the population of the judicial district is more than one million.
(c) This section does not apply to a political contribution made by a general-purpose committee.
(d) For purposes of this section, a contribution by a law firm whose members are each members of a second law firm is considered to be a contribution by the law firm that has members other than the members the firms have in common.
(e) A person who receives a political contribution that violates Subsection (a) shall return the contribution to the contributor not later than the later of:
(1) the last day of the reporting period in which the contribution is received; or
(2) the fifth day after the date the contribution is received.
(f) A person who violates this section is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed three times the amount of the political contributions accepted in violation of this section.
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 763, Sec. 1, eff. June 16, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 479, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1096, Sec. 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
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