(a) A filer commits an offense if the filer fails to timely file a report or a supplemental report with the city secretary in an electronic format. To be timely, an electronic report must be time and date stamped as having been received on the city’s server by 5 p.m. on the last day permitted for filing the particular report under Chapter 254 of the Texas Election Code, as amended.
(b) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a) of this section that:
(1) the filer:
(A) (or an agent of the filer or a person with whom the filer contracts) does not use computer equipment to keep the current records of political contributions, political expenditures, or persons making political contributions to the filer; and
(B) does not, in a calendar year, accept political contributions that in the aggregate exceed $1,000 or make political expenditures that in the aggregate exceed $1,000; or
(2) the filer is an individual not acting in concert with another person who makes one or more direct campaign expenditures in an election from the individual’s own property that exceed $100 on any one or more candidates or measures if the individual complies with Chapter 254 of the Texas Election Code, as amended, as if the individual were a campaign treasurer of a political committee and the individual receives no reimbursement for the expenditures.
(c) A filer wishing to assert a defense described in Subsection (b) of this section shall file with the city secretary an affidavit, sworn under penalty of perjury, identifying the asserted defense and stating that the filer qualifies for the defense. A separate affidavit must be filed with each report that is not filed in an electronic format as required by this article.
(d) A filer who files an affidavit under Subsection (c) of this section asserting a defense for a particular report shall file that report with the city secretary in a non-electronic form prescribed by the Texas Ethics Commission pursuant to Section 254.036 of the Texas Election Code, as amended.
(e) An offense under this section is punishable by a fine not to exceed $500. (Ord. Nos. 27146; 29663)