1-1     By:  Whitmire                                          S.B. No. 699

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 21, 1997; February 25, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental

 1-4     Relations; March 24, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable

 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0;

 1-6     March 24, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 699                 By:  Whitmire

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the promotional appointments of police officers in

1-11     certain municipalities.

1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 143.108, Local Government Code, is

1-14     amended by amending Subsection (c), adding a new Subsection (e),

1-15     and relettering the current Subsection (e) as Subsection (f) to

1-16     read as follows:

1-17           (c)  If a fire or police department fails to fill a vacancy

1-18     by an appointment within the time required by Subsection (b), the

1-19     fire fighter or police officer who is appointed to fill the vacancy

1-20     is entitled to receive in a lump-sum payment the difference between

1-21     the pay that the fire fighter or police officer received during the

1-22     time that the position was unlawfully vacant and the pay that the

1-23     fire fighter or police officer would have received if the fire

1-24     fighter or police officer had been appointed to the position on the

1-25     latest day provided for the appointment by Subsection (b).  The

1-26     fire fighter's or police officer's seniority rights in the new

1-27     position also date to the latest day provided for the appointment

1-28     by Subsection (b).

1-29           (e)  If the municipality refuses to pay a police officer or

1-30     to grant a police officer seniority rights as provided by

1-31     Subsection (c), the  police officer may bring an action to recover

1-32     the pay and seniority rights in a court of competent jurisdiction.

1-33           (f)  Notwithstanding Subsection (h), Section 143.036, each

1-34     promotional eligibility list in the fire department remains in

1-35     existence for two years after the date on which the written

1-36     examination is given, unless exhausted.  At the expiration of the

1-37     two-year period, the eligibility list expires and a new examination

1-38     may be held.

1-39           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act to Section

1-40     143.108, Local Government Code, applies only to a vacancy created

1-41     in a police department on or after September 1, 1997.  A vacancy

1-42     created before that date is governed by the law in effect when the

1-43     vacancy was created, and the former law is continued in effect for

1-44     that purpose.

1-45           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-46           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-47     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-48     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-49     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-50     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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