TEXAS ETHICS COMMISSION The Texas Ethics Commission is authorized by Government Code, sec.571.091, to issue advisory opinions in regard to the following statutes: the Government Code, Chapter 302; the Government Code, Chapter 305; the Government Code, Chapter 572; the Election Code, Title 15; the Penal Code, Chapter 36; and the Penal Code, Chapter 39. Requests for copies of the full text of opinions or questions on particular submissions should be addressed to the Office of the Texas Ethics Commission, P.O. Box 12070, Austin, Texas 78711-2070, (512) 463-5800. Texas Ethics Commission Advisory Opinion Request AOR Number 382 The Texas Ethics Commission has been asked to consider whether an individual may make a contribution to a political committee and request that the funds be used only to cover the committee's administrative costs. AOR Number 383 The Texas Ethics Commission has been asked about the meaning of the phrase "particular matter" in sec.572.054 of the Government Code. The specific question is whether a grant application that a state agency makes to the federal government is a different matter from a proposal by a private company to receive grant proceeds from the state agency. The Texas Ethics Commission is authorized by sec.571.91 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 305, Government Code; (4) Title 15, Election Code; (5) Chapter 36, Penal Code; and (6) 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. Issued in Austin, Texas, on September 23, 1996. TRD-9613960 Tom Harrison Executive Director Texas Ethics Commission Filed: September 24, 1996 Ethics Opinion Request EAO-340 Questions concerning the activities in which an incorporated association may engage with respect to candidates for state office. (AOR-378) SUMMARY An incorporated association may make expenditures for candidate appearances before the association's members or stockholders only if all candidates for the office are given the same opportunity to appear and are presented on an equal footing. An incorporated association may make expenditures to set up a phone bank to urge members or stockholders and their families to vote for particular candidates, or to conduct a partisan get-out-the-vote drive directed at those individuals, only if the candidates benefited have not given their prior consent or approval. Corporate expenditures incurred in issuing a press release through the corporation's usual press contacts announcing endorsements of candidates by a political committee established by the corporation are prohibited political expenditures. EAO-341 Whether Ethics Advisory Opinion Number 185 (1994) stands for the proposition that the contingent fee prohibition in sec.305.022 of the Government Code does not apply to fees for communications to influence purchasing decisions, regardless of whether the fee is paid to a regular employee of a vendor or to an independent contractor. (AOR-379) SUMMARY Ethics Advisory Opinion Number 185 (1994), which concluded that the prohibition against certain contingent fees in sec.305.022 of the Government Code does not prohibit contingent fees for efforts to influence state agency purchasing decisions, applies to all fees for efforts to influence agency purchasing decisions, regardless of whether the person attempting to influence an agency purchasing decision is working as an employee of a vendor or as an independent contractor. EAO-342 Application of contribution limits imposed by the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act to contributions made by a law firm. (AOR-380) SUMMARY In a judicial district with a population between 250,000 and 1,000,000, a law firm may not contribute more than $2,500 in the aggregate per election to a candidate for district judge. EAO-343 Whether a candidate forum to which only certain candidates are invited constitutes a communication in support of the candidates invited and whether a promise to abide by provisions in a city campaign finance ordinance is "consideration" for purposes of the definition of "political advertising." (AOR- 381) SUMMARY Excluding candidates from a candidate forum makes the forum itself a communication in support of those included because the exclusion of certain candidates lends the sponsor's tacit support to those included as the candidates worthy of consideration by the audience. 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. Issued in Austin, Texas, on September 23, 1996 TRD-9614120 Tom Harrison Executive Director Texas Ethics Commission Filed: September 24, 1996