By:  Horn                                             H.B. No. 1446
       73R3761 MJW-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the appointment or employment of veterans of certain
    1-3  conflicts by public agencies.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 1, Chapter 357, Acts of the 49th
    1-6  Legislature, Regular Session, 1945 (Article 4413(31), Vernon's
    1-7  Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 1.  From and after the effective date of this Act, in
    1-9  every public department, commission, board, and government agency,
   1-10  and upon all public works of this State, all honorably discharged
   1-11  soldiers, sailors, marines, members of the air corps and coast
   1-12  guard of the United States, nurses in military service of the
   1-13  United States, and all women in military service of the United
   1-14  States in the different auxiliary services thereof, in the
   1-15  Spanish-American War, Philippine Insurrection, China Relief
   1-16  Expedition, World War I and World War II, <or in> any other
   1-17  military conflict in which the United States of America has been a
   1-18  participant, <or> the war in Korea after June 24, 1950, <or> the
   1-19  Viet Nam conflict after July, 1953, conflicts in Beirut, Lebanon,
   1-20  and Grenada between August 24, 1982, and July 31, 1984, the
   1-21  conflict in Panama between December 20, 1989, and January 31, 1990,
   1-22  or Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm between August 2, 1990, and
   1-23  the date of cessation of hostilities related to that operation as
   1-24  determined by the United States government, and the widows and
    2-1  orphans of such personnel of the Armed Forces of the United States,
    2-2  who are and have been citizens of Texas for not less than five (5)
    2-3  years preceding the date of application in pursuance of this Act,
    2-4  and are competent and fully qualified, shall be entitled to
    2-5  preference in appointment or employment over other applicants for
    2-6  the same position having no greater qualification; provided, that
    2-7  this Act shall not apply or benefit any person who was a
    2-8  conscientious objector at the time of his or her discharge from any
    2-9  of the military services herein mentioned.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-15  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-16  passage, and it is so enacted.