1-1 By: Whitmire S.B. No. 719
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 1993; March 10, 1993, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
1-4 Relations; April 15, 1993, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0;
1-6 April 15, 1993, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE VOTE
1-8 Yea Nay PNV Absent
1-9 Armbrister x
1-10 Leedom x
1-11 Carriker x
1-12 Henderson x
1-13 Madla x
1-14 Moncrief x
1-15 Patterson x
1-16 Rosson x
1-17 Shapiro x
1-18 Wentworth x
1-19 Whitmire x
1-20 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 719 By: Patterson
1-21 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-22 AN ACT
1-23 relating to the records of an unsustained complaint or an
1-24 overturned disciplinary action taken against a fire fighter or
1-25 police officer in certain municipalities.
1-26 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-27 SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,
1-28 is amended by adding Section 143.1214 to read as follows:
1-29 Sec. 143.1214. RECORDS OF OVERTURNED DISCIPLINARY ACTION OR
1-30 UNSUSTAINED COMPLAINT. (a) The department head promptly shall
1-31 order that the records of a disciplinary action that was taken
1-32 against a fire fighter or police officer be expunged from each file
1-33 maintained on the fire fighter or police officer by the department
1-34 if the disciplinary action was overturned on appeal by the
1-35 commission, an independent third-party hearing examiner, or a court
1-36 of competent jurisdiction. Documents that must be expunged under
1-37 this subsection include all documents that indicate disciplinary
1-38 action was recommended or taken against the fire fighter or police
1-39 officer, such as the recommendations of a disciplinary committee or
1-40 a letter of suspension. This subsection does not apply if the
1-41 disciplinary action was only reduced and not overturned.
1-42 (b) The department may maintain an investigatory document
1-43 that relates to a disciplinary action against a fire fighter or
1-44 police officer that was overturned on appeal, or any document in
1-45 the possession of the department that relates to a charge of
1-46 misconduct against a fire fighter or police officer that the
1-47 department did not sustain, only in a file created by the
1-48 department for the department's use. The department may not
1-49 release those documents to any agency or other person.
1-50 SECTION 2. Section 143.1214, Local Government Code, as added
1-51 by this Act, applies according to its terms to a disciplinary
1-52 action that is overturned or a complaint that is found to be
1-53 unsustained before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
1-54 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-55 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-56 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-57 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-58 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-59 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-60 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-61 * * * * *
1-62 Austin,
1-63 Texas
1-64 April 15, 1993
1-65 Hon. Bob Bullock
1-66 President of the Senate
1-67 Sir:
1-68 We, your Committee on Intergovernmental Relations to which was
2-1 referred S.B. No. 719, have had the same under consideration, and I
2-2 am instructed to report it back to the Senate with the
2-3 recommendation that it do not pass, but that the Committee
2-4 Substitute adopted in lieu thereof do pass and be printed.
2-5 Armbrister,
2-6 Chairman
2-7 * * * * *
2-8 WITNESSES
2-9 FOR AGAINST ON
2-10 ___________________________________________________________________
2-11 Name: James G. Chapman x
2-12 Representing: Houston Police Patrolmen's Un
2-13 City: Houston
2-14 -------------------------------------------------------------------
2-15 Name: Tommy Britt x
2-16 Representing: Houston Police Officers Assn
2-17 City: Houston
2-18 -------------------------------------------------------------------
2-19 Name: W. Stacey Mooring x
2-20 Representing: Houston Police Patrolmen's
2-21 City: Houston
2-22 -------------------------------------------------------------------
2-23 Name: Carvel L. McNeil Jr. x
2-24 Representing: Houston Police Patrolmen's Un
2-25 City: Houston
2-26 -------------------------------------------------------------------
2-27 Name: David M. Barber x
2-28 Representing: Sam Nuchia Chief; Houston PD
2-29 City: Houston
2-30 -------------------------------------------------------------------
2-31 Name: Rick Mumey x
2-32 Representing: Houston Professional Firefigh
2-33 City: Houston
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