By: Hightower H.B. No. 1219
73R4519 PB-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the exclusion of certain persons from eligibility for
1-3 workers' compensation benefits as employees of this state or a
1-4 political subdivision of this state.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 1(2), Article 8309g, Revised Statutes, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (2) The word "employee" shall not include:
1-9 (A) Persons performing personal services for the
1-10 State of Texas as independent contractors or volunteers.
1-11 (B) Members of the state military forces as
1-12 defined in Section 1, Article 5765, Revised Civil Statutes of
1-13 Texas, 1925.
1-14 (C) Persons who are at the time of injury
1-15 performing services for the federal government and who are covered
1-16 by some form of federal workers' compensation, including those
1-17 working under Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973
1-18 programs; prisoners or inmates of a prison or correctional
1-19 institution, including a community corrections facility or
1-20 substance abuse felony punishment facility; persons performing
1-21 community service work or work probation under the terms of a court
1-22 order; or clients or patients of any state institution or agency.
1-23 (D) Persons employed by the State Department of
1-24 Highways and Public Transportation that are covered under Chapter
2-1 502, Acts of the 45th Legislature, Regular Session, 1937, as
2-2 amended (Article 6674s, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
2-3 (E) Persons employed by The University of Texas
2-4 that are covered by Chapter 310, Acts of the 52nd Legislature,
2-5 1951, as amended (Article 8309d, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas).
2-6 (F) Persons employed by The Texas A&M University
2-7 System that are covered by Chapter 229, Acts of the 50th
2-8 Legislature, 1947, as amended (Article 8309b, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-9 Statutes).
2-10 SECTION 2. Section 1(2), Article 8309h, Revised Statutes, is
2-11 amended to read as follows:
2-12 (2) "Employee" means every person in the service of a
2-13 political subdivision who has been appointed in accordance with the
2-14 provisions of the article. A person in the service of a political
2-15 subdivision who is paid on a piecework basis or on a basis other
2-16 than by the hour, day, week, month, or year, who is a patient or
2-17 client of a political subdivision involved in vocational training,
2-18 <or> who is a prisoner incarcerated by a political subdivision, who
2-19 is confined in a community corrections facility, or who is
2-20 performing community service work or work probation under the terms
2-21 of a court order is not an employee and is not entitled to
2-22 compensation under this article. Provided, however, a political
2-23 subdivision may cover volunteer firefighters, policemen, emergency
2-24 medical personnel, and other volunteers that are specifically named
2-25 who shall be entitled to full medical benefits and the minimum
2-26 compensation payments under the law. A political subdivision may
2-27 cover an elected official as an employee by a majority vote of the
3-1 members of the governing body of the political subdivision. A
3-2 political subdivision may cover children who are in a program
3-3 established by the political subdivision to assist children in
3-4 rendering personal services to a charitable or educational
3-5 institution as authorized by Subsection (b), Section 54.041, Family
3-6 Code. Members of the board of trustees of a self-insurance fund
3-7 created hereunder may provide coverage for themselves as well as
3-8 their staff, including persons with whom it has contracted to
3-9 perform staff functions, or for any other self-insurance fund
3-10 created under The Interlocal Cooperation Act (Article 4413(32c),
3-11 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) by a majority vote of such members
3-12 of the fund. No class of persons who are paid as a result of jury
3-13 service or an appointment to serve in the conduct of elections may
3-14 be considered employees under this article unless declared to be
3-15 employees by a majority vote of the members of the governing body
3-16 of a political subdivision.
3-17 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
3-18 applies only to eligibility for workers' compensation benefits
3-19 under a claim for workers' compensation benefits that is filed with
3-20 the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission on or after that date.
3-21 Eligibility for benefits under a claim filed before that date is
3-22 governed by the law in effect on the date that the claim was filed,
3-23 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
3-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.