By Tillery                                      H.B. No. 1481

      75R4911 JRD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the procedure for promoting fire fighters and police

 1-3     officers in certain municipalities.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 143.036(f), Local Government Code, is

 1-6     amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (f)  Unless the department head has a valid reason for not

 1-8     appointing the person, the department head shall appoint the

 1-9     eligible promotional candidate having the highest grade on the

1-10     eligibility list.  If the department head has a valid reason for

1-11     not appointing the eligible promotional candidate having the

1-12     highest grade, the department head shall personally discuss the

1-13     reason with the person being bypassed before appointing another

1-14     person.  The department head shall also file the reason in writing

1-15     with the commission.  A department head who has a valid reason for

1-16     not appointing an eligible promotional candidate on an eligibility

1-17     list must personally discuss the reason with the person and file

1-18     the reason in writing with the commission not later than the 60th

1-19     day after the date that the promotional examination used to create

1-20     the eligibility list was administered, without regard to whether a

1-21     vacancy exists during that period, or the department head is

1-22     considered to have waived the reason and the right to bypass the

1-23     eligible promotional candidate.  On application of the bypassed

1-24     eligible promotional candidate after the person has been bypassed,

 2-1     the reason the department head did not appoint that person is

 2-2     subject to review by the commission.

 2-3           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act to Section

 2-4     143.036, Local Government Code, applies only to an eligibility list

 2-5     created based on a promotional examination that is administered on

 2-6     or after the effective date of this Act.

 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-12     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-13     passage, and it is so enacted.