The Texas Ethics Commission has been asked several questions about a symposium sponsored by three nonprofit organizations. The registration fee would cover the program, the printed materials, meals, and receptions. The sponsors would like to waive the registration fee for certain members of the legislature and members of a governmental task force. Every state officer is required to file such a financial disclosure statement.
Legislators are state officers for purposes of the requirement.
This raises the question of whether the waiver of the fee in question would be to influence legislative action and therefore subject to the lobby statute. The requestor has provided an agenda of the seminar that indicates the symposium will communicate a particular point of view in regard to a matter that may be the subject of legislative action. A fee waiver for legislators would be to influence legislative action and the lobbyist donor would be required to report the expenditure. The requestor also asks whether a portion of the fee waiver would be reportable as an expenditure for food and beverages under the lobby statute. See generally id .