75R10991 GJH-F
By Talton H.B. No. 3324
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3324:
By Talton C.S.H.B. No. 3324
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to civil service for firefighters and police officers in
1-3 certain municipalities.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 143.103(b), Local Government Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) Except for positions classified in the communication or
1-8 technical class, the governing body of the municipality employing a
1-9 peace officer in a specialized police division shall classify a
1-10 position in the division in the same class as a police officer
1-11 position that is not in a specialized police division. [A peace
1-12 officer who is employed in a specialized police division is
1-13 eligible for promotion within the officer's respective class.] A
1-14 member of a particular division [class] is [not] eligible for
1-15 promotion or lateral crossover to a position outside that division
1-16 [class, and lateral crossover by promotion by a member of one
1-17 class to another class is prohibited]. [If a member of one class
1-18 wants to change classes, the member must qualify and enter the new
1-19 class at the lowest entry level of that class.] The head of the
1-20 police department, assistant chiefs of police, and deputy chiefs of
1-21 police, or their equivalent, regardless of name or title, may
1-22 exercise the full sanctions, powers, and duties of their respective
1-23 offices in the supervision, management, and control of the members
1-24 of those classes and divisions, subject to the decisions of the
2-1 department head regarding the chain of command in the department.
2-2 SECTION 2. Subchapter G, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,
2-3 is amended by adding Section 143.1261 to read as follows:
2-4 Sec. 143.1261. LEGISLATIVE LEAVE ACCOUNT. (a) A
2-5 firefighter or police officer may donate not more than one hour for
2-6 each month of accumulated vacation or compensatory time to an
2-7 employee organization. The municipality shall establish and
2-8 maintain a legislative leave time account for each employee
2-9 organization.
2-10 (b) The firefighter or police officer must authorize the
2-11 donation in writing on a form provided by the employee organization
2-12 and approved by the municipality. After receiving the signed
2-13 authorization on an approved form, the municipality shall transfer
2-14 donated time to the account monthly until the municipality receives
2-15 the firefighter's or police officer's written revocation of the
2-16 authorization.
2-17 (c) Only a firefighter or police officer who is a member of
2-18 an employee organization may use for legislative leave purposes the
2-19 time donated to that employee organization. A firefighter or
2-20 police officer may use for legislative leave purposes the time
2-21 donated under this section in lieu of reimbursing the municipality
2-22 under Section 143.126.
2-23 (d) A request to use for legislative leave purposes the time
2-24 in an employee organization's time account must be in writing and
2-25 submitted to the municipality by the president or the equivalent
2-26 officer of the employee organization or by that officer's designee.
2-27 (e) The municipality shall account for the time donated to
3-1 the account and used from the account. The municipality may:
3-2 (1) determine and credit the actual cash value of the
3-3 donated time in the account and determine and deduct the actual
3-4 cash value of time used from the account for legislative leave
3-5 purposes; or
3-6 (2) credit and debit an account on an hour-for-hour
3-7 basis regardless of the cash value of the time donated or used.
3-8 (f) An employee organization may not use for legislative
3-9 leave purposes more than 4,000 hours from its time account under
3-10 this section in a calendar year.
3-11 SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this
3-12 section and except for officers currently classified in the
3-13 communication or technical class, a municipality with a population
3-14 of 1,500,000 or more shall reclassify all peace officers in an
3-15 entry level rank in a specialized police division of the police
3-16 department to an equivalent rank in the class currently referred to
3-17 as Class A. This reclassification does not impair a reclassified
3-18 officer's pay, seniority, or other employment benefits accrued by
3-19 the officer on August 31, 1997. An officer reclassified into Class
3-20 A under this section is entitled under Chapter 143, Local
3-21 Government Code, to all benefits to which a similarly situated
3-22 officer who is not reclassified by this Act is entitled.
3-23 (b) Notwithstanding Section 143.103(b), Local Government
3-24 Code, as amended by this Act, a peace officer in a municipality
3-25 with a population of 1,500,000 or more who holds a rank above an
3-26 entry level rank in a specialized police division of the police
3-27 department shall continue to be governed by the civil service rules
4-1 in effect on August 31, 1997. Except for officers currently
4-2 classified in the communication or technical class:
4-3 (1) when a sergeant position in a specialized police
4-4 division becomes vacant, it shall be reclassified as a position in
4-5 the class referred to in the municipality as Class A on the
4-6 effective date of this Act; and
4-7 (2) if fewer than three qualified specialized
4-8 sergeants or lieutenants are eligible to take a promotional
4-9 examination for a vacant specialized lieutenant or captain
4-10 position of a specialized police division, the vacant position
4-11 shall be reclassified as a position in the class referred to in the
4-12 municipality as Class A on the effective date of this Act.
4-13 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
4-14 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.