By Driver                                       H.B. No. 1677

      75R4142 JRD-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to a firefighter or police officer in certain

 1-3     municipalities who is convicted of a felony.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 143.056, Local Government Code, is

 1-6     amended by amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsections (i) and

 1-7     (j) to read as follows:

 1-8           (g)  Conviction of a felony is cause for dismissal, without

 1-9     regard to whether the conviction is or may be appealed, and

1-10     conviction of a Class A or B misdemeanor may be cause for

1-11     disciplinary action or indefinite suspension.

1-12           (i)  On entry of a judgment by a district court or criminal

1-13     district court of this state, by an equivalent court in another

1-14     state, or by a federal district court convicting a fire fighter or

1-15     police officer of a felony, the department head may indefinitely

1-16     suspend the fire fighter or police officer without regard to

1-17     whether:

1-18                 (1)  the department head has already temporarily

1-19     suspended the fire fighter or police officer;

1-20                 (2)  the fire fighter or police officer has appealed or

1-21     may appeal the conviction; or

1-22                 (3)  the department head brought a timely charge

1-23     against the fire fighter or police officer for a violation of civil

1-24     service rules in relation to the action for which the fire fighter

 2-1     or police officer was convicted.

 2-2           (j)  This section does not apply to a municipality in which

 2-3     Section 143.1017 applies.

 2-4           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only

 2-5     to disciplinary action against a firefighter or police officer

 2-6     based on a judgment of conviction for a felony that is entered by a

 2-7     trial court against the firefighter or police officer on or after

 2-8     the effective date of this Act.  Disciplinary action against a

 2-9     firefighter or police officer based on a judgment of conviction for

2-10     a felony that is entered by a trial court against the firefighter

2-11     or police officer before the effective date of this Act is governed

2-12     by the law in effect on the date the judgment is entered, and the

2-13     prior law is continued in effect for that 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,

2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.