S.B. No. 128
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Subsection (e), Section 2.002, Texas Incentive
    1-4  and Productivity Act (Article 6252-29a, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-5  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (e)  An employee whose suggestion results in a net annual
    1-7  savings or increase in revenues, including savings or increased
    1-8  revenues that result from increased productivity, of $100 or more
    1-9  is eligible for a bonus of 10 percent of the net savings or revenue
   1-10  increase, up to a maximum award of $5,000.  If the suggestion is
   1-11  submitted by more than one employee, the bonus shall be divided
   1-12  among the employees.  An employee whose suggestion results in a net
   1-13  annual savings or increase in revenues of less than $100 is not
   1-14  eligible for a bonus but is eligible for a certificate of
   1-15  appreciation.
   1-16        SECTION 2.  Subdivision (3), Section 3.001, Texas Incentive
   1-17  and Productivity Act (Article 6252-29a, Vernon's Texas Civil
   1-18  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   1-19              (3)  "Division" means a unit of a state agency that:
   1-20                    (A)  has an identifiable self-contained budget;
   1-21  <or>
   1-22                    (B)  maintains its financial records under an
   1-23  accounting system that permits the accurate identification of the
    2-1  expenditures and receipts of the unit; or
    2-2                    (C)  consists of a group of employees identified
    2-3  by the agency and approved by the commission.
    2-4        SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 3.002, Texas Incentive
    2-5  and Productivity Act (Article 6252-29a, Vernon's Texas Civil
    2-6  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    2-7        (b)  The commission shall act on an agency's plan as early as
    2-8  practicable after receiving it.  The commission may return any plan
    2-9  to the executive director who submits it to request additional
   2-10  information or clarification of details relating to the plan.  The
   2-11  commission must approve an agency plan before a state agency may
   2-12  apply for a productivity bonus for the agency or a division of the
   2-13  agency.  The commission shall inform the executive director in
   2-14  writing that the plan is approved or rejected not later than the
   2-15  30th day after the open meeting at which the plan is considered
   2-16  <date the plan is received>.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  Subsection (c), Section 3.004, Texas Incentive
   2-18  and Productivity Act (Article 6252-29a, Vernon's Texas Civil
   2-19  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   2-20        (c)  The commission shall consider as a legitimate savings a
   2-21  reduction in expenditures made possible by:
   2-22              (1)  reductions in overtime for eligible employees;
   2-23              (2)  reductions in <elimination of> consultant fees;
   2-24              (3)  reductions in <elimination of> budgeted positions;
   2-25              (4)  reductions in <elimination of unnecessary> travel;
    3-1              (5)  reductions in <elimination of unnecessary>
    3-2  printing and mailing;
    3-3              (6)  reductions in <elimination of> payments for
    3-4  <unnecessary> advertising, membership dues, subscriptions, and
    3-5  other nonessential outlays of state agency or division funds;
    3-6              (7)  increased efficiency in use of energy;
    3-7              (8)  improved office procedures and systems; and
    3-8              (9)  any other practice or device that the commission
    3-9  determines has resulted in verifiable savings.
   3-10        SECTION 5.  Subsection (b), Section 3.007, Texas Incentive
   3-11  and Productivity Act (Article 6252-29a, Vernon's Texas Civil
   3-12  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   3-13        (b)  From the funds in the state agency's or division's
   3-14  productivity bonus account, the commission shall award to the
   3-15  eligible employees of the agency or division an amount not to
   3-16  exceed 25 percent of the amount in that account.  The awarded
   3-17  amount shall be divided and distributed in equal shares to the
   3-18  eligible current employees of the agency or division, except that
   3-19  those employees who worked part-time or less than 12 months of the
   3-20  year shall receive only a pro rata share based on the fraction of
   3-21  the year worked.  The commission may grant an agency's or a
   3-22  division's request not to pay bonuses if a negligible reduction in
   3-23  cost has occurred <distributed in equal shares to the eligible
   3-24  current employees of the agency or division>.  A bonus made to any
   3-25  individual employee may not exceed $1,000.  <An eligible employee
    4-1  who worked in the agency or division for less than the full fiscal
    4-2  year or on a part-time basis is entitled to a pro rata share based
    4-3  on the fraction of the fiscal year and the average fraction of the
    4-4  work week that the employee worked in the agency or division.>  An
    4-5  eligible employee under this section is an employee who:
    4-6              (1)  is an hourly, part-time, or temporary employee;
    4-7              (2)  is a classified employee under the Position
    4-8  Classification Act of 1961 (Article 6252-11, Vernon's Texas Civil
    4-9  Statutes); or
   4-10              (3)  performs functions that are equivalent to
   4-11  functions performed by a classified employee in other state
   4-12  agencies.
   4-13        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   4-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   4-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   4-18  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   4-19  passage, and it is so enacted.