By Yarbrough H.B. No. 893
74R2643 MLR-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to polygraph tests administered to employees of a
1-3 sheriff's department in certain counties.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 157.905, Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 157.905. POLYGRAPH EXAMINATION OF EMPLOYEES <DEPUTY
1-8 SHERIFF> IN CERTAIN SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTS. (a) This section
1-9 applies only to an employee of <a person appointed as a deputy
1-10 sheriff in> a sheriff's department in a county with a population of
1-11 2.8 million or more.
1-12 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), an employee
1-13 <herein, a deputy sheriff> may not be suspended, discharged, or
1-14 subjected to any other form of employment discrimination or adverse
1-15 employment action because the employee <deputy sheriff> refuses to
1-16 take a polygraph examination or participate in an interview or
1-17 other proceeding that is preparatory to taking a polygraph
1-18 examination.
1-19 (c) An employee <Discipline may be given to a deputy
1-20 sheriff> who refuses to take a polygraph examination or participate
1-21 in an interview or other proceeding that is preparatory to taking a
1-22 polygraph examination may be disciplined if:
1-23 (1) the employee <such deputy sheriff> is the subject
1-24 of a complaint; and
2-1 (2) the complainant <against such deputy sheriff> has,
2-2 in the course of the department's investigation of the complaint,
2-3 previously taken and successfully passed a polygraph examination.
2-4 (d) A polygraph examiner may not conduct a polygraph
2-5 examination under this section if the examiner knows or has reason
2-6 to know that:
2-7 (1) the employee to be examined has been ordered by an
2-8 investigator or supervisor or by the polygraph examiner to take the
2-9 polygraph examination and, if not for that fact, the employee would
2-10 refuse the polygraph examination; and
2-11 (2) either the employee to be examined is not the
2-12 subject of a complaint or the complainant has not taken and passed
2-13 a polygraph examination.
2-14 (e) A person passes a polygraph examination if the examiner
2-15 determines that no deception is indicated by the examination.
2-16 (f) The results of a polygraph examination may not be used
2-17 in any proceeding to discipline or discharge an employee if the
2-18 examination was not conducted in accordance with this section.
2-19 (g) The Polygraph Examiners Board shall revoke the license
2-20 of an examiner who fails to comply with Subsection (d).
2-21 SECTION 2. Section 19, Polygraph Examiners Act (Article
2-22 4413(29cc), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
2-23 follows:
2-24 Sec. 19. REFUSAL, PROBATION, REPRIMAND, SUSPENSION,
2-25 REVOCATION--GROUNDS. The board shall refuse to issue a license,
2-26 shall revoke or suspend a license, shall reprimand a licensee, or
2-27 may probate a license suspension on any one or more of the
3-1 following grounds:
3-2 (1) for failing to inform a subject to be examined as
3-3 to the nature of the examination;
3-4 (2) for failing to inform a subject to be examined
3-5 that his participation in the examination is voluntary;
3-6 (3) material misstatement in the application for
3-7 original license or in the application for any renewal license
3-8 under this Act;
3-9 (4) wilful disregard or violation of this Act or of
3-10 any regulation or rule issued pursuant thereto, including, but not
3-11 limited to, wilfully making a false report concerning an
3-12 examination for polygraph examination purposes;
3-13 (5) if the holder of any license has been adjudged
3-14 guilty of the commission of a felony or a misdemeanor involving
3-15 moral turpitude;
3-16 (6) making any wilful misrepresentation or false
3-17 promises or causing to be printed any false or misleading
3-18 advertisement for the purpose of directly or indirectly obtaining
3-19 business or trainees;
3-20 (7) having demonstrated unworthiness or incompetency
3-21 to act as a polygraph examiner as defined by this Act;
3-22 (8) allowing one's license under this Act to be used
3-23 by any unlicensed person in violation of the provisions of this
3-24 Act;
3-25 (9) wilfully aiding or abetting another in the
3-26 violation of this Act or any regulation or rule issued pursuant
3-27 thereto;
4-1 (10) where the license holder has been adjudged as a
4-2 habitual drunkard or mentally incompetent as provided in the
4-3 Probate Code;
4-4 (11) failing, within a reasonable time, to provide
4-5 information requested by the secretary as the result of a formal
4-6 complaint to the board which would indicate a violation of this
4-7 Act;
4-8 (12) failing to inform the subject of the results of
4-9 the examination if so requested;
4-10 (13) violating Subsection (a) of Section 19A of this
4-11 Act relating to the confidentiality of information acquired from an
4-12 examination; <or>
4-13 (14) violating Section 51.151, Family Code, relating
4-14 to the examination of a child taken into custody; or
4-15 (15) violating Section 157.905(d), Local Government
4-16 Code, relating to the examination of an employee of a sheriff's
4-17 department.
4-18 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
4-19 applies to a polygraph examination conducted on or after that date.
4-20 A polygraph examination conducted before the effective date of this
4-21 Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the examination
4-22 was conducted, and the former law is continued in effect for that
4-23 purpose.
4-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.