By West S.B. No. 1236
75R6281 GCH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to credit in the Employees Retirement System of Texas for
1-3 service as a custodial officer.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 811.001(8), Government Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 (8) "Custodial officer" means a member of the
1-8 retirement system who is employed by the [institutional division or
1-9 the state jail division of the] Texas Department of Criminal
1-10 Justice or is a member of or employed by the Board of Pardons and
1-11 Paroles and certified by the department or board, as applicable,
1-12 as having a normal job assignment described by Section 813.506
1-13 [that requires frequent or infrequent regularly planned contact
1-14 with, and in close proximity to, inmates of the institutional
1-15 division or inmates or defendants confined in the state jail
1-16 division without the protection of bars, doors, security screens,
1-17 or similar devices and includes assignments normally involving
1-18 supervision or the potential for supervision of inmates in inmate
1-19 housing areas, educational or recreational facilities, industrial
1-20 shops, kitchens, laundries, medical areas, agricultural shops or
1-21 fields, or in other areas on or away from property of the
1-22 institutional division or the state jail division].
1-23 SECTION 2. Section 813.506, Government Code, is amended to
1-24 read as follows:
2-1 Sec. 813.506. CUSTODIAL OFFICER SERVICE. (a) The Texas
2-2 Department of Criminal Justice and the Board of Pardons and Paroles
2-3 each by rule shall adopt standards for determining eligibility for
2-4 service credit as a custodial officer, based on the need to
2-5 encourage early retirement of persons whose duties are hazardous
2-6 and require them to have routine contact with inmates of the
2-7 institutional or [defendants confined in the] state jail division
2-8 of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or inmates released to
2-9 mandatory supervision or on parole, on a regular basis, without the
2-10 protection of bars, doors, security screens, or similar devices.
2-11 (b) To be creditable as custodial officer service, service
2-12 performed must meet the requirements of the rules adopted under
2-13 Subsection (a) and may be performed by persons in one of the
2-14 following job categories:
2-15 (1) all persons classified as Correctional Officer I
2-16 through warden, including training officers [and special operations
2-17 reaction team officers];
2-18 (2) all other employees assigned to work on a unit or
2-19 in a contract facility, office of the Board of Pardons and Paroles,
2-20 or parole office and whose jobs require routine contact described
2-21 by Subsection (a) with inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal
2-22 Justice or inmates released to mandatory supervision or on parole
2-23 [or defendants confined in the state jail division], including but
2-24 not limited to members, hearing officers, and other personnel of
2-25 the Board of Pardons and Paroles, farm managers, livestock
2-26 supervisors, maintenance foremen, shop foremen, medical
2-27 assistants, food service supervisors, stewards, education
3-1 consultants, commodity specialists, [and] correctional counselors,
3-2 and personnel in a parole office;
3-3 (3) employees assigned to administrative offices whose
3-4 jobs require routine contact described by Subsection (a) with
3-5 inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or inmates
3-6 released to mandatory supervision or on parole [or defendants
3-7 confined in the state jail division] at least 50 percent of the
3-8 time, including but not limited to investigators, compliance
3-9 monitors, accountants routinely required to audit unit operations,
3-10 sociologists, interviewers, classification officers, and
3-11 supervising counselors; and
3-12 (4) persons in administrative positions whose jobs
3-13 require response to emergency situations involving inmates of the
3-14 Texas Department of Criminal Justice [or defendants confined in the
3-15 state jail division], including but except as specified not
3-16 limited to the executive director, division directors, deputy
3-17 directors, assistant directors, and not more than 25 administrative
3-18 duty officers of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
3-19 (c) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice or the Board of
3-20 Pardons and Paroles, as applicable, shall determine a person's
3-21 eligibility to receive credit as a custodial officer. A
3-22 determination of the department or board may not be appealed by an
3-23 employee but is subject to change by the retirement system.
3-24 (d) As part of the audit of the Texas Department of Criminal
3-25 Justice or the Board of Pardons and Paroles by the state auditor in
3-26 accordance with Chapter 321, the state auditor may verify the
3-27 accuracy of reports submitted to the retirement system under this
4-1 section. The state auditor shall review biennially the standards
4-2 adopted by the department and by the board under Subsection (a).
4-3 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. The
4-4 change in law made by this Act applies only to service that is
4-5 certified as custodial officer service and performed on or after
4-6 that date.
4-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.