Sec. 253.160. AGGREGATE LIMIT ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AND DIRECT CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES BY GENERAL-PURPOSE COMMITTEE. (a) Subject to Section 253.1621, a judicial candidate or officeholder may not knowingly accept a political contribution from a general-purpose committee that, when aggregated with each other political contribution from a general-purpose committee in connection with an election, exceeds 15 percent of the applicable limit on expenditures prescribed by Section 253.168, regardless of whether the limit on expenditures is suspended.
(b) 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.
(c) For purposes of this section, an expenditure by a general-purpose committee for the purpose of supporting a candidate, for opposing the candidate's opponent, or for assisting the candidate as an officeholder is considered to be a contribution to the candidate unless the campaign treasurer of the general-purpose committee, in an affidavit filed with the authority with whom the candidate's campaign treasurer appointment is required to be filed, states that the committee has not directly or indirectly communicated with the candidate's campaign, including the candidate, an aide to the candidate, a campaign officer, or a campaign consultant, or a specific-purpose committee in regard to a strategic matter, including polling data, advertising, or voter demographics, in connection with the candidate's campaign.
(d) This section does not apply to a political expenditure by the principal political committee of the state executive committee or a county executive committee of a political party that complies with Section 253.171(b).
(e) A person who violates this section is liable for a civil penalty not to exceed three times the amount by which the political contributions accepted in violation of this section exceed the applicable limit prescribed by Subsection (a).
Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 763, Sec. 1, eff. June 16, 1995. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 479, Sec. 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1096, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
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