By: Bailey H.B. No. 1906
73R6044 MLR-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to municipal civil service in certain municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 143.1014, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) The department shall provide to a fire fighter or police
1-8 officer written notice of the time and location of a meeting or
1-9 hearing not later than the 48th hour before the hour on which the
1-10 meeting or hearing is held if the meeting or hearing is:
1-11 (1) related to an internal departmental or other
1-12 municipal investigation of the fire fighter or police officer at
1-13 which the fire fighter or police officer is required or entitled to
1-14 be present, including an interrogation;
1-15 (2) related to a grievance filed by the fire fighter
1-16 or police officer under Sections 143.127 through 143.134; or
1-17 (3) an opportunity to respond to charges against the
1-18 fire fighter or police officer before the department terminates the
1-19 fire fighter's or police officer's employment.
1-20 (c) If the department conducts a meeting or hearing to which
1-21 Subsection (a) applies without providing the fire fighter or police
1-22 officer with the written notice required under Subsection (a):
1-23 (1) the municipality shall reverse any punitive action
1-24 that was taken against the fire fighter or police officer,
2-1 including a reprimand, that was based in whole or in part on
2-2 information obtained at that meeting or hearing;
2-3 (2) any information obtained at the meeting or hearing
2-4 may not be introduced into evidence in any proceeding against the
2-5 fire fighter or police officer; and
2-6 (3) if the meeting or hearing is a grievance meeting
2-7 or hearing under Subsection (a)(2), the grievant is entitled to the
2-8 relief requested if the relief may be granted under law.
2-9 SECTION 2. Section 143.108(b), Local Government Code, is
2-10 amended to read as follows:
2-11 (b) If an eligibility list exists on the date a vacancy
2-12 occurs, the vacancy shall be filled by permanent appointment from
2-13 the eligibility list furnished by the commission within 60 days
2-14 after the date the vacancy occurs. If an eligibility list does not
2-15 exist, the vacancy shall be filled within 95 days after the date
2-16 the vacancy occurs from an eligibility list that the commission
2-17 shall provide within 90 days after the date the vacancy occurs.
2-18 SECTION 3. Section 143.115(c), Local Government Code, is
2-19 amended to read as follows:
2-20 (c) A fire fighter or police officer who leaves the
2-21 classified service as a result of a disability is entitled to
2-22 receive a lump-sum payment of the full amount of the fire fighter's
2-23 or police officer's salary for the total accumulated vacation and
2-24 holiday leave. If a fire fighter or police officer <or> dies, <as
2-25 the result of a line of duty injury or illness or> the designated
2-26 beneficiaries, or if none the estate, of that fire fighter or
2-27 police officer is <are> entitled to receive a lump-sum payment of
3-1 the full amount of the fire fighter's or police officer's salary
3-2 for the total accumulated vacation and holiday leave.
3-3 SECTION 4. Section 143.134, Local Government Code, is
3-4 amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
3-5 (h) If the decision of the commission under Section 143.131
3-6 or the decision of a hearing examiner under Section 143.129 that
3-7 has become final is favorable to a fire fighter or police officer,
3-8 the department head shall implement the relief granted to the fire
3-9 fighter or police officer not later than the 10th day after the
3-10 date on which the decision was issued. If the department head
3-11 intentionally fails to implement the relief within the 10-day
3-12 period, the governing body of the municipality shall discharge the
3-13 department head from employment with the municipality.
3-14 SECTION 5. (a) The changes in law made by this Act to
3-15 Section 143.1014, Local Government Code, apply only to the notice
3-16 required for a meeting or hearing that is held on or after the
3-17 second day after the effective date of this Act.
3-18 (b) Section 143.134(h), Local Government Code, as added by
3-19 this Act, applies only to a decision issued by a civil service
3-20 commission under Section 143.131, Local Government Code, or by a
3-21 hearing examiner under Section 143.129, Local Government Code, on
3-22 or after the effective date of this Act.
3-23 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-24 SECTION 7. 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.