By Goodman H.B. No. 2077 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the pooling of sick leave for county employees. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 152 of the Texas Local Government Code is 1-5 amended by adding a new section: 1-6 Sec. 152.019 1-7 (a) Definitions 1-8 (1) For purposes of this Act, "administrator" shall 1-9 mean the person designated by commissioners court to administer the 1-10 county's sick leave pool. 1-11 (2) "Employee" shall include all district, county and 1-12 precinct employees paid from the general fund of the county or from 1-13 special grants paid through the county. 1-14 (b) This Act is intended to provide for the alleviation of 1-15 the hardship caused to an employee and the employee's family if a 1-16 catastrophic illness or injury forces the employee to exhaust all 1-17 leave time earned by that employee and to lose compensation from 1-18 the county. 1-19 (c) The commissioners court shall determine which injuries 1-20 and illnesses are classified as catastrophic for purposes of this 1-21 Act. The court shall provide to the administrator a written 1-22 statement of that classification. 1-23 (d) The commissioners court of any county may establish a 2-1 program within the county to allow an employee to voluntarily 2-2 transfer sick leave earned by that employee to a sick leave pool 2-3 administered by the administrator. 2-4 (1) The commissioners court may adopt rules and 2-5 prescribe procedures relating to the operation of the county sick 2-6 leave pool. 2-7 (2) Sick leave time contributed to the county pool may 2-8 be used by an employee of the county as provided by this Act. 2-9 (e) An employee is eligible to use the time contributed to 2-10 the sick leave pool if, because of a catastrophic injury or illness 2-11 or because of a previous donation of sick leave time to the pool, 2-12 the employee has exhausted all the sick leave time to which that 2-13 employee is otherwise entitled. 2-14 (f) To contribute time to the sick leave pool, an employee 2-15 must submit an application to the administrator in the form 2-16 prescribed by the commissioners court. 2-17 (g) On approval by the administrator, the employee may 2-18 transfer to the pool not less than one day nor more than three days 2-19 per fiscal year of the accrued sick leave time earned by that 2-20 employee. The administrator shall credit the sick leave pool with 2-21 the amount of time contributed by that employee and shall deduct a 2-22 corresponding amount of time from the amount to which that employee 2-23 is entitled as if the employee had used the time for personal 2-24 purposes. 2-25 (h) An eligible employee may apply to the administrator for 3-1 permission to draw time from the county sick leave pool. If the 3-2 administrator determines that the employee is eligible, the 3-3 administrator shall approve the transfer of time from the pool to 3-4 that employee. The administrator shall credit the time to the 3-5 employee, who may use the time in the same manner as sick leave 3-6 earned by the employee in the course of employment 3-7 (i) An eligible employee may not draw time from the county 3-8 sick leave pool in an amount that exceeds the lesser of one-third 3-9 of the total amount of time in the pool or 90 days. The 3-10 administrator shall determine the exact amount that an eligible 3-11 employee may draw from the pool. 3-12 (j) An employee absent on assigned sick leave is treated for 3-13 all purposes as the employee were absent on earned sick leave. 3-14 (k) The estate of a deceased employee is not entitled to 3-15 payment for unused sick leave acquired by that employee from the 3-16 sick leave pool of the employing county. 3-17 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 3-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.