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. 1-51 * * * * *