EAO-480. The Texas Ethics Commission has been asked to consider whether an elected judge may use political contributions to compensate a court employee under the judge's supervision for lost vacation time and, if so, whether the judge may use personal funds for that purpose with the intent to seek reimbursement from political contributions. (AOR-543)
SUMMARY
Title 15 of the Election Code does not prohibit an officeholder from using political contributions to compensate a county employee for vacation time that the employee was unable to take due to carrying out his or her county responsibilities on assignments connected with the activities of the officeholder's office. The officeholder may use personal funds to make the payment to compensate the employee for the lost vacation time and may seek reimbursement from political contributions provided that the expenditure from personal funds is reported as required by title 15 of the Election Code. If the judge is subject to the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act, the reimbursement at issue must be in compliance with the limits set by the Act. The court employee may accept the compensation at issue under section 36.10(a)(2) of the Penal Code.
The Texas Ethics Commission is authorized by §571.091 of the Government Code to issue advisory opinions in regard to the following statutes: (1) Chapter 572, Government Code; (2) Chapter 302, Government Code; (3) Chapter 303, Government Code; (4) Chapter 305, Government Code; (5) Chapter 2004, Government Code; (6) Title 15, Election Code; (7) Chapter 159, Local Government Code; (8) Chapter 36, Penal Code; and (9) Chapter 39, Penal Code.
Questions on particular submissions should be addressed to the Texas Ethics Commission, P.O. Box 12070, Capitol Station, Austin, Texas 78711-2070, (512) 463-5800.
TRD-200801884
Natalia Luna Ashley
General Counsel
Texas Ethics Commission
Filed: April 8, 2008