By Torres                                       H.B. No. 1074

      75R4024 MRB-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the promotional appointments of police officers in

 1-3     certain municipalities.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Sections 143.108(c) and (d), Local Government

 1-6     Code, are amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (c)  If a fire or police department fails to fill a vacancy

 1-8     by an appointment within the time required by Subsection (b), the

 1-9     fire fighter or police officer who is appointed to fill the vacancy

1-10     is entitled to receive in a lump-sum payment the difference between

1-11     the pay that the fire fighter or police officer received during the

1-12     time that the position was unlawfully vacant and the pay that the

1-13     fire fighter or police officer would have received if the fire

1-14     fighter or police officer had been appointed to the position on the

1-15     latest day provided for the appointment by Subsection (b). The fire

1-16     fighter's or police officer's seniority rights in the new position

1-17     also date to the latest day provided for the appointment by

1-18     Subsection (b).

1-19           (d)  If the municipality refuses to pay a fire fighter or

1-20     police officer or to grant a fire fighter or police officer

1-21     seniority rights  as provided by Subsection (c), the [a] fire

1-22     fighter or police officer may bring an action to recover the pay

1-23     and seniority rights in a court of  competent jurisdiction.  A fire

1-24     fighter or police officer who prevails in a suit brought under this

 2-1     subsection is entitled to recover three  times the amount to which

 2-2     the fire fighter or police officer is entitled under Subsection

 2-3     (c), seniority rights, costs of court, and reasonable attorney

 2-4     fees.

 2-5           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act to Section

 2-6     143.108, Local Government Code, applies only to a vacancy created

 2-7     in a police department on or after September 1, 1997.  A vacancy

 2-8     created before that date is governed by the law in effect when the

 2-9     vacancy was created, and the former law is continued in effect for

2-10     that purpose.

2-11           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-12           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.