| (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish rules for the acceptance of donations made to the Commission. (b) General Authority to Accept Donations. Texas Labor Code §301.021 allows the Commission to accept a donation of services or money that it determines furthers the lawful objectives of the Commission. (c) General Prohibitions Regarding Donations. (1) Texas Labor Code §301.021(b) and (c) identify entities that the Commission is not authorized to accept donations from; and (2) Texas Government Code §575.005 states that the Commission is not authorized to accept donations from entities in contested cases. (d) Analysis of Offered Donations. The Agency, prior to the Commission's consideration of a donation, shall perform an inquiry and analysis to determine if there is a detrimental effect to accepting the donation. Texas Government Code §551.073 allows the Commission to hold a closed meeting regarding an identified detrimental effect as determined by the Agency. (e) Acceptance of Donations. Acceptance of donations by the Commission on behalf of the Agency shall: (1) be in an open meeting by a majority of the voting members of the Commission; (2) be reported in the public records of the Commission and include the name of the donor, and the purpose and a description of the donation; (3) be in the form of monetary or in-kind assets; and (4) have a minimum value of $500.00. (f) Donation Agreement. Following acceptance of the donation by the Commission, the donor and the Agency shall execute a donation agreement, which includes: (1) description of the donation, including a statement of the value; (2) statement by the donor attesting to the donor's ownership rights in the donation and the donor's authority to make the donation; (3) signature of the donor or designee; (4) signature of the Agency designee; (5) restrictions on the use of the donations, if any, agreed to by the donor and Commission; (6) mailing address of the donor and principal place of business if the donor is a business entity; (7) statement identifying any official relationship between the donor and the Agency; and (8) statement advising the donor to seek legal and/or tax advice from its own legal counsel. (g) Administration of Donations. The Agency shall: (1) deposit monetary donations to the credit of the Texas Workforce Commission account of the state General Revenue Fund; (2) disburse monetary donations at the Agency's direction. All monetary gifts are automatically appropriated to the Commission in accordance with the General Appropriations Act; and (3) use the donations for the purpose specified by the donor, to the extent possible, and in accordance with any local, state, and federal laws. In no event shall donations be used for purposes not within the Agency's statutory authority. (h) Texas Government Code, Chapter 572, governs the standards of conduct between the Agency and donors. (i) Public Records. (1) Documents and other information pertaining to the official business of the Commission are public information and are subject to the Texas Public Information Act (Texas Government Code, Chapter 552). (2) If the Commission determines an exception to the Texas Public Information Act is applicable, it may seek a determination from the Attorney General of Texas regarding the confidentiality of information relating to a donation before releasing the requested information. (j) Conflict of Laws. These rules shall not conflict with a requirement of a statute regulating the conduct of an officer or employee of a state agency or the procedures of the Agency. In the event that there appears to be a conflict between these rules and a state statute, the state statute controls. |
