By Thompson                                           H.B. No. 1156
       74R4047 PB-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to authorizing the state and political subdivisions of the
    1-3  state to enter into certain agreements regarding employment
    1-4  conditions.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 617.002, Government Code, is amended to
    1-7  read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 617.002.  LIMITED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BY PUBLIC
    1-9  EMPLOYEES <PROHIBITED>.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsections (d)
   1-10  and (e), an <An> official of the state or of a political
   1-11  subdivision of the state may not enter into a collective bargaining
   1-12  contract or other agreement with a labor organization regarding
   1-13  wages, hours, or conditions of employment of public employees.
   1-14        (b)  A contract or agreement entered into in violation of
   1-15  this section <Subsection (a)> is void.
   1-16        (c)  An official of the state or of a political subdivision
   1-17  of the state may <not> recognize a labor organization as the
   1-18  bargaining agent for a group of public employees only as provided
   1-19  by Subsections (d) and (e).
   1-20        (d)  An official of the state or of a political subdivision
   1-21  of the state may enter into an agreement with a labor organization
   1-22  regarding the use of compensatory time off by employees of the
   1-23  state or of a political subdivision of the state as permitted by
   1-24  Section 7(o), Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section
    2-1  207).
    2-2        (e)  If the employees under Subsection (d) are police
    2-3  officers or firefighters employed by a political subdivision of the
    2-4  state, a procedure adopted for recognition of a bargaining agent
    2-5  under Subchapter D, Chapter 174, Local Government Code, governs the
    2-6  designation of a representative with whom an agreement may be
    2-7  reached under Subsection (d).
    2-8        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    2-9  applies only to an agreement entered into on or after January 1,
   2-10  1996.  An agreement entered into before January 1, 1996, is
   2-11  governed by the law in effect on the date the agreement was
   2-12  entered, and the former law is continued in effect for that
   2-13  purpose.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.