Hon. AlwinE, Pape Opinion No. V-1509 

County Attorney 

Guadalupe County Re: Statements of campaign conSeguin, Texas tributions and expenses required to be filed by independent candidates in 

Dear Sir: general elections. 

You have requested an opinion as to whether 

independent candidates whose names are placed on the 

general election ball& in accordance with Sections 

227-230 of the Texas Election‘Code'(V.C.'S. .Election 

Code, Arts. 13.5+13,53) must ~comply with then provisions 

of Chapter 14 of the Election Code (Sets. 237-246; V.C. 

S. Election Code, Arts. 14.01-14.10) relating to campsign expenditures. You ask specifically: 

"Does each candidate for office in the 

independent column of the ballot at a general election have to file all the sworn expense accounts and reports of contributions, 

or file only one, after the general election 

and within ten days thereafter?" 

Chapter 14, Title 50, Revised Civil Statutes 

of 1925, entitled "Limiting Campaign Expenditures" (Arts. 

3168-3173, V.C.S.) applied only to candidates in primary 

elections. Article 3168 defined a candidate as "any 

person who has announced to any other person or to the 

public that he is a candidate for the nomination for any 

office which the laws of this State require to be determined by a primary election." Article 3172 required 

"each candidate for nomination in a primary election" to 

keep a record of moneys received or disbursed for campaign purposes and to file state,ments of these receipts 

and disbursements at stated intervals before and after 

the primary. Other provisions of these statutes make it 

quite clear that they included only candidates in primary 

elections and did not extend to campaign expenditures 

incurred after nomination in a primary. The only requirement placed upon candidates in the general election in 

regard to campaign expenditures was found in Article 252, 

Vernon's Penal Code, as follows: 
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Hon. Alwin E. Pape, page 2 (v-1509) 

‘Any candidate for any public office, 

whether elected or not, who fails to file 

with the county judge of his county within 

ten deys after the date of a general election an itemized statement of all money or 

things of value paid or promised by him before or during his candidacy for such office including his traveling expenses, 

hotel bills and money paid to newspapers, 

and make an affidavit to the correctness 

of such account, showing to whom paid or 

promised, shall be fined not less than two 

hundred nor more than five hundred dollars.” 

With the adoption of the Election Code the 

Legislature rewrote the campaign expenditure provisions 

of Chapter 14, Title 50 so as to make them applicable 

to general and special elections as wel3. as primary 

elections, In place of the definition of “candidate” 

quoted above, Section 237 of the Election Code now pro- 

,vides: 

“The word 1 candidate’ shall mean any 

person who has announced to any other person or to the publ.ic that he is a ~candfdate 

.for the nomination for or the election to 

any office which the laws of this State require to be determined by an election. 

The term ‘campaign expenditure’ as 

&eGe;nafter used shall include any gift, 

loan, or payment of money or other valuable 

tNng or promise to give, lend, or pay money 

or other valuable thing for the purpose of 

furthering or opposing ?he candidacy of any 

person for nomination for or election to any 

county, district, or state office.” 

Changes in the wording of. other sections in 

this chapter conform to the inclusion of -general and 

,,.special elections within its terms. Subdivision (f) 

“of Section 244 (formerly Article 3172) now provides 

that each candidate must file sworn statements of receipts and expenditures “at intervals of twenty (20) 

days beginning sixty (60) days next preceding the date 

of any election In which the candidate’s name annears 

on the -.ballot a a .,I’ Subdivision (d) provides that 

[‘any such statement filed by a candidate in a special 

or general election must include all items not reported 

in statements filed in previous elections preceding such 

special or general election.t’ The affidav3.t form set 
Hon. Alwin E. Pape, page 3 (v-1509) 

out In subdivision (f) further shows that candidates 

whose names appear on a general or special electio 

ballot now must file the statements required by this 

s.ectlon. _ 

The times at which statements must be filed 

are set out in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 244, 

as follows: 

"0) Each candidate is hereby required 

to file sworn statements of all gifts and 

loans previously received and of all gifts, 

loans 

4 

and payments made and all debts incurre . Such sworn statements shall and must 

be filed at intecvals of twenty (20) days beginning sixty (60) days next preceding the ,: 

date of any election in which the candidate's 

name appears on the ballot provided however, 

that a sworn statement shall be file4 not 

more than five (5) nor less than two (2) days 

prior to the date of the election in which 

the candidate's name ~appears on the ballot. 

Provided, further, that there shall be filed 

a sworn statement not more ~than twenty (20), 

nor less than fifteen (15) days next preceding the second or run-off primary election 

and there shall be filed a second swornstatement not more than five (5) nor less than two 

(2) days next preceding the second or runoff primary election in which the candidate's 

name appears on the ~ballot. Such,sworn statement shall also include an estimate of the 

additional amount that the candidate will expend or become liable for in behalf of.his '. candidacy from the time of the filing of the 

sworn statement to and including the day of 

the election. 

"(c) Not less than ten (LO) days after 

the election each candidate must file a sworn 

supplemental statement of all gifts and loans 

received prior to the election and of,all 

gifts, loans, and payments made and debts lncurred prior to the election not specifically 

Included in the sworn statement filed prior 

to the election." 

The first statement required of an independent 

candidate in the general election is to be filed 60 days 
Hon. Alwin E. Pape, page 4 (V-1509) 

preceding the date of that election. Under Section 

227 the application to have the name of an independent 

can A idate placed on the ballot may be filed within 30 

days after the second primary election day so it is 

possible that the application will not be hiled until 

some time after the 60th day preceding the election. 

nobfever; under the definition contained in Section 237, 

a "candidate" means any person who has announced to any 

other person or to the publJ& that he is a candidate 

for the office, Our construction of these statutes is 

that a person who, on or prior to 60 days before the 

general election, has announced his intention to seek , 

election as an Independent candidate should file this 

report, even though the application for placing his name 

on the ballot has not been filed. A person who has not 

then become a f'candidate" as defined in Section 237 obviously is not required to file a statement on that 

date. 

vision (c) 

The post-election statement required by subdiof Section 244 is a suonleuental statement 

of Items not reported prior to the election. Under Article 252 of the Penal Code, a candidate in the general 

election heretofore has been required to file with the 

county judge within 10 days after the election,a statement of &!J. expenses incurred during his candidacy. The 

~extension of Section 244 of the Election Code to general 

elections raises the question of whether candidates in a 

general election must still file the statement described 

In Article 252, v.P,c. 

Article 252 of the Penal Code was not expressly repealed by the Election Code. Section 247 of the 

Election Code repeals "all laws and parts of laws In conflict herewith . 0 o in so far as such laws are in actual 

conflict with the provisions of this Code." It cannot 

be said that Article 252 is in actual conflict with Section 244, for clearly it Is not impossible for a candidate to comply fully with both-provisions. 

Section 2 of the bill by which the Election 

code was enacted (H.B. 6, C:cts 52nd Leg., 1951, ch. 492) 

reads: 

"That all elections and all laws relating to suffrage and parties, as found in 

Title 50 of the Revised Civil Statutes of 

Texas of 1925, and all amendments thereto, 

be and the same are hereby repealed, provided, however, that nothing in this Act 
. 

Hon. Alwin E. Papo, page 5 (V-1509) 

shall be construed as repealing or in‘any 

way affecting the legality of any penal 

provision of the existing law; and th&a 

Act shall be construed,to be anindependent Act of the Legislature enacted under 

the caption hereof, and the Sections contained in this Act, as revised, rewritten, 

changed, combined and codifi.ed shall be 

-the governing law of this State." 

The extent to which these provisions alter 

the ordinary rules of statutory construction is not 

clearly ascertainable. We believe this section means 

simply that a provision in the Penal Code is not repealed unless some pzovision of the Election Code, 

construed as an Independent act of the Legislature 

would repeal it by implication. It is a recognize d 

rule of statutory construction that where the Leglslature has enacted a statute which was intended to enbrace the entire subject matter, prior statutes on the 

same subject are repealed by implication. 

Co. v. Citv of Hamli 142 Tex. 486, 179 S.w$?* 

( 44) Meek v. Whee% Count 125 S.W.2d 331 (Tex. 

Ctz. Aipm9) affirmed 13 -3 'Tex. 454 144 S W 2d 

885; 39 Tex. Jur!., Statutzs, E 80. In $lew of-tie completeness with which Section 244 prescribes the statements which a candidate in the general election must 

file, we are inclined to the view that the Legislature 

Intended Section 244 to be,a complete enactment covering the entlre,field of campaign expense reports. However, because of our uncertainty that this view would 

be sustained by the courts, It is our advice that candidates, in order to be sure of compliance with statutory requirements, also,flle the statement described 

in Article 252 of the Penal Code. 

SUMMARY 

An Independent candidate in the general 

election nominated in accordance with Sections 227-230, Texas Election Code (V.C.S. 

Election Code, Arts. 13.50-13.53) must file 

the statements of campaign recei ts and expenditures required by Section 2 f: 4 of the 
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Hon. Alvin E. Pape, page 6 (V-1%9) 

333;&.fon Code (V.C.S. ~EJ.ection,code, Art. 

0 . 

APPROVED: Yours very truly, 

J. C. Davis, Jr. PRICE DANIEL 

county Affairs Division 'Attorney General 

E. Jacobson 

Reviewing Assistant By *kyf % FW 

Charles D. Mathews Mary K. Wall 

First Assistant Assistant 

MKW:wb 

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