By Haywood S.B. No. 111
75R1417 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the exemption of certain state employees from
1-3 professional licensing fees.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
1-6 (1) "License" includes a license, certificate,
1-7 registration, permit, or other authorization, required by statute
1-8 or state agency rule, that a person must obtain to practice or
1-9 engage in a particular business or occupation.
1-10 (2) "License fee" means a fee imposed by a licensing
1-11 agency on a person who holds a license issued by the licensing
1-12 agency as a condition for the person to continue to hold the
1-13 license and to engage in a particular business or occupation.
1-14 (3) "Licensing agency" means a board, commission,
1-15 committee, council, department, institution, office, administrative
1-16 agency, or other agency of the state, created by the constitution
1-17 or a statute of this state, that issues a license or otherwise
1-18 regulates a person who engages in a particular business or
1-19 occupation.
1-20 (4) "State agency" means:
1-21 (A) a board, commission, committee, council,
1-22 department, institution, office, administrative agency, or other
1-23 agency in the executive branch of state government, including an
1-24 institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
2-1 Education Code, but not including a public junior college as
2-2 defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, or a special-purpose
2-3 district or authority;
2-4 (B) the senate, the house of representatives, or
2-5 a legislative agency; or
2-6 (C) the supreme court, the court of criminal
2-7 appeals, a court of appeals, or the State Bar of Texas or another
2-8 judicial agency having statewide jurisdiction.
2-9 SECTION 2. LICENSE FEE EXEMPTION. (a) Each licensing agency
2-10 in the state shall, by rule, exempt a license holder who is an
2-11 employee of a state agency from the licensing agency's license fee
2-12 requirements. The exemption under this section applies only to a
2-13 state employee who is required to hold a license as a condition of
2-14 the employee's employment with a state agency.
2-15 (b) A state agency that employs a license holder entitled to
2-16 an exemption under this section shall notify each appropriate
2-17 licensing agency of the name and license number, if any, of each
2-18 employee of the state agency who holds a license as a condition of
2-19 the employee's employment. Failure by a state agency to notify a
2-20 licensing agency of an employee's eligibility for an exemption does
2-21 not constitute grounds for the licensing agency to deny the
2-22 exemption.
2-23 (c) A licensing agency shall reimburse the amount of a
2-24 license fee to a state employee who:
2-25 (1) pays a license fee for a period for which the
2-26 employee is entitled to an exemption under this Act; and
2-27 (2) applies to the licensing agency for reimbursement.
3-1 SECTION 3. REIMBURSEMENT OF FEE TO STATE. (a) A state
3-2 agency shall request the comptroller to withhold from the salary of
3-3 an employee who voluntarily leaves the employment of the state
3-4 agency an amount equal to the prorated amount of the employee's
3-5 license fee for the remainder of the period covered by the fee
3-6 following the date the employment terminated. A state agency may
3-7 not request that an employee's salary be withheld under this
3-8 subsection if the employee leaves the state agency's employment to
3-9 work for another state agency.
3-10 (b) The comptroller, on request under this section, shall
3-11 withhold the amount from an employee's salary and deposit the
3-12 amount in the general revenue fund.
3-13 SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; TRANSITION. (a) This Act takes
3-14 effect September 1, 1997.
3-15 (b) A licensing agency subject to this Act shall adopt rules
3-16 under this Act not later than December 1, 1997.
3-17 (c) This Act applies only to a license fee that first
3-18 becomes due on or after January 1, 1998.
3-19 SECTION 5. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
3-20 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.