Austin – State Rep. Dianne White Delisi saw two bills leave the Texas House today and one more passed to third reading. The three Delisi bills that were approved covered state government ethics reform, enhanced enforcement against document fraud, and clarifying grievance policies to assist school employee whistleblowers.


"These three bills move Texas forward in ways that Texans care about," Delisi stated. "All three address topics in a way that would strike the average person as just plain common-sense. I am please to see all receive such strong support in my chamber."


Rep. Delisi's House Bill 590 makes improvement to the state's ethics policies by establishing that each agency must have a written set of ethics policies that is consistent with state's current Standards of Conduct guidelines. Each new state employee must be supplied a copy of their agency's ethics policy within three days of beginning their employment. The Texas Attorney General will also draft a set of model ethics policies and make them available for state agencies to use.


"I think it is important that everyone in state government have clear guidance regarding our ethics policies," Delisi said. "A written set of policies provides that unambiguous direction; it makes clear what is expected."


House Bill 126 allows a prosecutor to seek an enhanced penalty for the offense of tampering with governmental records when these offenses are committed by organized crime. This bill specifically targets large-scale document mills that churn out all manner of counterfeit government documents.


"Fake documents facilitate a range of crimes ranging from credit card fraud to the smuggling of stolen vehicles. Supplying those fake documents is a profitable industry for organized crime," Delisi stated. "My legislation gives prosecutors an important tool to go after those criminal enterprises whose illegal actions raise the risks of identity theft for all Texans."


Rep. Delisi also moved to third reading legislation (House Bill 1622) which ensures that school employees seeking to report what they believe to be unlawful behavior on the part of a supervisor may not be required under local grievance policies to make their complaints to that same supervisor.


"I was asked by school teachers to consider this legislation and I was happy to oblige.  This is just common-sense," Delisi said.

###