The Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), an eight-member board appointed by the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Speaker of the House, is scheduled to meet Wednesday, September 23 in Capitol Extension Room E1.014 to consider amendments to Chapter 50 of its rules on legislative per diem.¹ If commissioners follow through on the increase from that proposal,² lawmakers would take home more taxpayer money and lobbyists would be able to spend more on meals and entertainment before they have to name the official who benefited.

Current TEC rule sets the constitutional per diem at $221 a day.³ That figure has stood since 2019. The proposal would lift it to $290.40 beginning in 2027. Over a 140-day regular session, that is $9,716 more per member of the Legislature, $40,656 instead of $30,940, on top of the $7,200 annual salary. The raise would apply to each House member, Senator, and the Lieutenant Governor, roughly $1.8 million extra in a regular session alone, before any special sessions.

This per diem, however, is not reimbursement that requires receipts. The Texas Supreme Court treats the constitutional per diem as compensation for the term, not an expense voucher.⁴ Members receive it for each day of a regular or special session whether they are in Austin working or not. The commission itself also describes the payment as salary, not a meal-and-lodging account.⁵

While the dollars add up for taxpayers, the additional hidden cost is transparency. 

State law requires a registered lobbyist to list an elected official by name (plus the place, date, and amount) when food and beverages, or transportation and lodging, or entertainment expenses for that official in a single day exceed 60 percent of the legislative per diem (Texas Government Code §305.0061).⁶ At the $221 per diem, that trigger is $132.60. At $290.40, it would jump to $174.24. The TEC’s own lobby guide⁷ still lists the $132.60 figure and notes there is no annual cap on food and beverages if the lobbyist is present. Two lobbyists can each stay just under the new line and cover a $348 dinner without either filing the detailed report.

Texans have seen this pattern before. Senate Bill 293⁸ from the 89th Legislature was sold as judicial discipline and court pay. The enrolled bill also increased the Legislature’s pension base to $175,000 and directed TEC, beginning in 2030, to consider an “equitable increase” in the dollar amount used to calculate those annuities and to raise it as the commission “considers appropriate” every five years. Simply put, the Legislature handed an appointed board the power to raise lawmaker pensions at taxpayer expense without another vote by the people’s representatives.⁹ 

Wednesday’s per diem item sits in the same chapter of rules. The same commission that now holds a five-year pension-increase power would, by raising the daily per diem rate, automatically loosen the only day-by-day name-and-amount disclosure that applies to lobbyist expenses benefiting lawmakers.

All funded by Texas taxpayers.

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1. https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/meetings/ ↩︎
2. https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-ethics-commission-proposal-would-raise-cap-on-secret-lobbyist-meals/ ↩︎
3. https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/rules/commission/ch50.php ↩︎
4. https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/resources/cf/Gperdiem.php ↩︎
5. https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/opinions/partVII/629.html ↩︎
6. https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/statutes/ch305.pdf ↩︎
7. https://www.ethics.state.tx.us/data/resources/guides/lobby_guide26.pdf ↩︎
8. https://capitol.texas.gov/billlookup/BillSummary.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=SB293 ↩︎
9. https://index.texastaxpayers.com/votes/2025-house-vote-rv4171 ↩︎