By Gallegos                                      S.B. No. 905

      75R4359 GJH-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to circumstances under which certain firefighters and

 1-3     police officers may be required to take a polygraph examination.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,

 1-6     is amended by adding Section 143.058 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 143.058.  POLYGRAPH EXAMINATIONS.  (a)  A firefighter or

 1-8     police officer employed by the municipality may not be required to

 1-9     submit to a polygraph examination as part of an internal

1-10     investigation regarding the conduct of the firefighter or police

1-11     officer unless:

1-12                 (1)  the complainant submits to and passes a polygraph

1-13     examination and, if applicable, the department has complied with

1-14     Subsection (c); or

1-15                 (2)  the firefighter or police officer is ordered to

1-16     take an examination under Subsection (f).

1-17           (b)  Subsection (a)(1) does not apply if the complainant is

1-18     physically or mentally incapable of being polygraphed.

1-19           (c)  The department shall, on the written request of a

1-20     firefighter or police officer, provide to the firefighter or police

1-21     officer the complainant's polygraph examination results within 48

1-22     hours after the request.

1-23           (d)  For the purposes of this section, a person passes a

1-24     polygraph examination if, in the opinion of the polygraph examiner,

 2-1     no deception is indicated regarding matters critical to the subject

 2-2     matter under investigation.

 2-3           (e)  The results of a polygraph examination that relate to

 2-4     the complaint under investigation are not admissible in a

 2-5     proceeding before the commission or a hearing examiner.

 2-6           (f)  The department head may order a firefighter or police

 2-7     officer to submit to a polygraph examination if the department head

 2-8     considers the circumstances to be extraordinary and the department

 2-9     head believes that the integrity of a firefighter or police officer

2-10     or the department is in question.

2-11           (g)  This section does not apply if Section 143.124 applies.

2-12           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-13     applies only to an investigation that is initiated on or after the

2-14     effective date of this Act.

2-15           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.