By Clemons H.B. No. 1071
74R1740 PEP-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the procedures for hiring persons in a fire or police
1-3 department under municipal civil service.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 143.025(h), Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (h) <The grade to be placed on the eligibility list for each
1-8 applicant shall be computed by adding an applicant's points under
1-9 Subsection (e), if any, to the applicant's grade on the written
1-10 examination.> Each applicant's grade on the written examination is
1-11 based on a maximum grade of 100 percent and is determined entirely
1-12 by the correctness of the applicant's answers to the questions.
1-13 The minimum passing grade on the examination is 70 percent. An
1-14 applicant must pass the examination to be placed on an eligibility
1-15 list.
1-16 SECTION 2. Section 143.026, Local Government Code, is
1-17 amended to read as follows:
1-18 Sec. 143.026. Procedure for Filling Beginning Positions.
1-19 (a) When a vacancy occurs in a beginning position in a fire or
1-20 police department, the department head shall request in writing
1-21 from the commission the names of suitable persons from the
1-22 eligibility list. The director shall certify to the municipality's
1-23 chief executive the name <names> of each person <the three persons
1-24 having the highest grades> on the eligibility list.
2-1 (b) From the <three> names certified, the chief executive
2-2 shall appoint the person whom the chief executive determines to be
2-3 the best qualified for the position. In determining who is the
2-4 best qualified person, the chief executive shall consider each
2-5 person's:
2-6 (1) energy and good health;
2-7 (2) knowledge of the job and technical competence;
2-8 (3) problem-solving skills;
2-9 (4) prior experience; and
2-10 (5) race and gender, to the extent allowed by federal
2-11 law and to the extent necessary to redress an imbalance in the
2-12 composition by race or gender of the classified members of the
2-13 department <having the highest grade unless there is a valid reason
2-14 why the person having the second or third highest grade should be
2-15 appointed.>
2-16 <(c) If the chief executive does not appoint the person
2-17 having the highest grade, the chief executive shall clearly set
2-18 forth in writing the good and sufficient reason why the person
2-19 having the highest grade was not appointed.>
2-20 <(d) The reason required by Subsection (c) shall be filed
2-21 with the commission and a copy provided to the person having the
2-22 highest grade. If the chief executive appoints the person having
2-23 the third highest grade, a copy of the report shall also be
2-24 furnished to the person having the second highest grade>.
2-25 SECTION 3. Section 143.037(b), Local Government Code, is
2-26 amended to read as follows:
2-27 (b) The record must contain:
3-1 (1) the date notice of examination for the position
3-2 was posted;
3-3 (2) the date on which the appointed person took the
3-4 examination;
3-5 (3) the name of each person who conducted the
3-6 examination;
3-7 (4) the grade the appointed person made on the
3-8 entrance examination for a beginning position or the relative
3-9 position of the appointed person on the eligibility list for a
3-10 nonentry position, as appropriate;
3-11 (5) the date the appointed person took the physical
3-12 examination, the name of the examining physician, and whether the
3-13 person was accepted or rejected;
3-14 (6) the date the request to fill the vacancy was made;
3-15 (7) the date the appointed person was notified to
3-16 report for duty; and
3-17 (8) the date the appointed person's pay is to start.
3-18 SECTION 4. Section 143.025(e), Local Government Code, is
3-19 repealed.
3-20 SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act relating to
3-21 an appointment to a beginning position in certain fire and police
3-22 departments apply only to an appointment to a beginning position
3-23 that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act, without
3-24 regard to whether the appointment is based on an eligibility list
3-25 that was created before, on, or after the effective date of this
3-26 Act. An appointment to a beginning position that occurs before the
3-27 effective date of this Act is governed by the law relating to the
4-1 appointment that exists on the date that the appointment occurs,
4-2 and the former law is continued in effect for this purpose.
4-3 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-4 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.