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Committee hears bill to shield residential addresses of campaign spending recipients
Summary
House Bill 551 would extend the same privacy protection currently given to campaign donors to residential addresses of individuals who receive campaign expenditures, requiring the Texas Ethics Commission to redact home addresses in public reports. The bill had no public witnesses and was left pending.
House Bill 551 would require the Texas Ethics Commission to redact the residential street addresses of individuals who receive campaign expenditures from public reports, leaving city, state and ZIP visible. The bill mirrors existing protections applied to donors and is aimed at protecting campaign workers who may be minors or live at addresses where disclosure could lead to harassment.
Sponsor testimony said the change would not affect nonresidential addresses, which would remain public, nor would it exempt business or institutional addresses from disclosure. The sponsor told the committee that campaigns often employ young workers who may be vulnerable if their residential addresses are publicly disclosed.
No members of the public registered to testify on HB 551 during this hearing. The committee closed public testimony and left the bill pending.
