Hegar Amends Filing to Include Wife's Income

State Sen. Glenn Hegar, a candidate for comptroller, amended his recent personal financial forms this week to include more information about his wife's income and investments.

Hegar, a Katy Republican, said earlier this month that he would amend the annual personal financial statements he is required to file as a member of the Legislature after the Associated Press asked him whether he was violating state law for leaving out details of his wife's finances.

Since first being elected to the Legislature in 2002, Hegar has excluded information from his personal financial reports about his wife’s work as well as information about some investments in her name. Dara Hager works for the Lanier Law Firm, a personal injury firm based in Houston.

Hegar has repeatedly said he did not think the law requires him to include that information. Last March, he told The Texas Tribune that he wasn’t aware of all of his wife’s finances and may not necessarily know all of the property that she owns.

In a amended report filed Tuesday that covers his finances for 2013, Hegar explained his changes with a statement that said state law “requires a filer to list assets of his spouse and children if the filer has control over those assets. It appears, however, to be a trend to report such information though not required by statute. As such, I have included those assets in this corrected report.”

In the amended report for 2013, Hegar reports his wife is managing director of the Lanier Law Firm. He also added income of less than $5,000 from her interest in the Grisbee Grandchildren Trust, and holdings from four mutual funds in his wife’s name.

Hegar also added investments in more than 70 stocks to the report, which a campaign spokesman said was an effort to provide a more detailed reporting of his 401(k) portfolio managed by Smith Barney. The previous versions of the reports listed the holdings under “Mutual Funds” as “Smith Barney-various.”

Hegar is one of four Republicans running to replace Comptroller Susan Combs, along with State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville; former gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina; and former state rep. Raul Torres. The winner will face Democrat Mike Collier in the general election.