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.