It's that time of year again -- time for legislators to file their 2009 personal financial statements with the state Ethics Commission (well, actually, they were supposed to postmark them by May 1, or else ask for an extension). These forms cover calendar year 2008, and they are supposed to show how each legislator earns their income, what property they own, and their business ties to lobbyists -- so that the public can better know whether a legislator has a potential conflict of interest.

In keeping with our project last fall to post all 181 legislators' forms from 2008, we're aiming to post all the new forms, too. We'll post them in chunks as we get them from the state Ethics Commission.

So here's the first passel of them (listed below). And, as always, all you see anything worth noting in the forms, please drop us a note -- either make a comment here on our blog or shoot me an e-mail at jennifer@texaswatchdog.org. If you're a blogger or a citizen-journalist, we'd love to know about anything you write or research on the forms -- please send us a link to anything you do!

Rep. Sid Miller
Rep. Joseph Moody
Rep. Geanie Morrison
Rep. Elliott Naishtat
Sen. Jane Nelson
Sen. Robert Lee Nichols
Rep. Dora Olivo

Stay tuned to Texas Watchdog to see more forms! And when we get all of them, we plan to present them in an interactive map, just as we did last year.

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