By:  Carona                                             H.B. No. 53
       73R632 MLR-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to eliminating the entitlement to overtime pay for certain
    1-3  members of police departments of certain municipalities.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Sections 142.0015(f), (h), and (j), Local
    1-6  Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (f)  A police officer who is not exempt under the Fair Labor
    1-8  Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq., may not,
    1-9  except as provided by Subsection (g) or (j), be required to work
   1-10  more hours during a calendar week than the number of hours in the
   1-11  normal work week of the majority of the employees of the
   1-12  municipality other than fire fighters and police officers.
   1-13        (h)  An officer who is not exempt under the Fair Labor
   1-14  Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq., and who is
   1-15  required to work overtime in an emergency is entitled to be
   1-16  compensated for the overtime at a rate equal to 1-1/2 times the
   1-17  compensation paid to the officer for regular hours unless the
   1-18  officer elects, with the approval of the governing body of the
   1-19  municipality, to accept compensatory time equal to 1-1/2 times the
   1-20  number of overtime hours.  For purposes of this subsection,
   1-21  compensable hours of work include all hours during which a police
   1-22  officer is:
   1-23              (1)  on duty on the premises of the municipality or at
   1-24  a prescribed workplace or required or permitted to work for the
    2-1  municipality, including preshift and postshift activities that are:
    2-2                    (A)  an integral part of the officer's principal
    2-3  activity; or
    2-4                    (B)  closely related to the performance of the
    2-5  principal activity; and
    2-6              (2)  away from the premises of the municipality under
    2-7  conditions that are so circumscribed that the officer is restricted
    2-8  from effectively using the time for personal pursuits.
    2-9        (j)  If a majority of police officers working for a
   2-10  municipality who are not exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act
   2-11  of 1938, 29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq., sign a written waiver of
   2-12  the prohibition in Subsection (f), the municipality may adopt a
   2-13  work schedule for police officers who are not exempt requiring a
   2-14  police officer to work more hours than permitted by Subsection (f).
   2-15  The officer who is not exempt is entitled to overtime pay if the
   2-16  officer works more hours during a calendar month than the number of
   2-17  hours in the normal work month of the majority of the employees of
   2-18  the municipality other than fire fighters and police officers.
   2-19        SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
   2-20  hours worked on or after the effective date of this Act.  Hours
   2-21  worked before the effective date are covered by the law in effect
   2-22  when the hours were worked, and the former law is continued in
   2-23  effect for this purpose.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-25        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-26  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-27  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.