Greg Abbott pegged ethics reform an "emergency item" at the beginning of his first session as Texas governor, but lawmakers failed to deliver legislation worthy of his signature.
"It is a step in the right direction," Abbott said. "I wanted an additional step taken."
He vetoed two ethics bills over the weekend.
At its core, HB 3736 was designed to curb conflicts of interest by state agency governing boards, and HB 3511 looked to strengthen requirements regarding personal financial disclosures. But in the final days of the session, Senator Joan Huffman amended the legislation, creating what's being called a "spousal loophole."
"It was a backdoor way to bribe legislators," said Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen Texas. "If you could make their spouses rich or give them fancy cars or help them in other ways, the legislator could benefit from them, and nobody would ever know because it would never be reported."
Smith has pushed for a more transparent state governmen for 30 years.
"With the ever-emerging threat of dark money, where we have a significant amount of money now being spent that never gets reported by nonprofit organizations, we have to do something to plug that loophole before it becomes an epidemic," he said.
The group even asked Abbott to call a special session to address ethics. But in his statement regarding his veto, the governor indicated that serious ethics reform must be addressed next session...the right way.