By: Gallegos S.B. No. 1286
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to civil service for firefighters and police officers in
1-2 certain municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 143.103, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 143.103. SPECIALIZED POLICE DIVISIONS. (a) A peace
1-7 officer employed by a municipal department in which the peace
1-8 officer performs duties in a specialized police division, including
1-9 a person employed as a park police officer, airport police officer,
1-10 or municipal marshal, is entitled to civil service status under
1-11 this chapter. The governing body of the municipality employing a
1-12 peace officer in a specialized police division shall classify the
1-13 officer in accordance with Section 143.021 and the duties performed
1-14 by the peace officer.
1-15 (b) Except for positions classified in the communication or
1-16 technical class, the governing body of the municipality employing a
1-17 peace officer in a specialized police division shall classify a
1-18 position in the division in the same class as a police officer
1-19 position that is not in a specialized police division. [A peace
1-20 officer who is employed in a specialized police division is
1-21 eligible for promotion within the officer's respective class.] A
1-22 member of a particular division [class] is [not] eligible for
1-23 promotion or lateral crossover to a position outside that division
2-1 [class, and lateral crossover by promotion by a member of one class
2-2 to another class is prohibited]. [If a member of one class wants
2-3 to change classes, the member must qualify and enter the new class
2-4 at the lowest entry level of that class.] The head of the police
2-5 department, assistant chiefs of police, and deputy chiefs of
2-6 police, or their equivalent, regardless of name or title, may
2-7 exercise the full sanctions, powers, and duties of their respective
2-8 offices in the supervision, management, and control of the members
2-9 of those classes and divisions, subject to the decisions of the
2-10 department head regarding the chain of command in the department.
2-11 (c) In departments in which a collective bargaining
2-12 agreement or a meet-and-confer agreement exists, Subsection (b)
2-13 must be approved by the collective bargaining agent,
2-14 meet-and-confer agent, or entity representing the sworn officers of
2-15 the department.
2-16 (d) Each applicable provision of this chapter, including the
2-17 provisions relating to eligibility lists, examinations, promotions,
2-18 appointments, educational incentive pay, longevity or seniority
2-19 pay, certification pay, assignment pay, salary, vacation leave, and
2-20 disciplinary appeals, applies to a peace officer employed by the
2-21 municipality in a specialized police division as provided by this
2-22 section.
2-23 SECTION 2. Subchapter G, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,
2-24 is amended by adding Section 143.1261 to read as follows:
2-25 Sec. 143.1261. LEGISLATIVE LEAVE ACCOUNT. (a) A
3-1 fire fighter or police officer may donate not more than one hour
3-2 for each month of accumulated vacation or compensatory time to an
3-3 employee organization. The municipality shall establish and
3-4 maintain a legislative leave time account for each employee
3-5 organization.
3-6 (b) The fire fighter or police officer must authorize the
3-7 donation in writing on a form provided by the employee organization
3-8 and approved by the municipality. After receiving the signed
3-9 authorization on an approved form, the municipality shall transfer
3-10 donated time to the account monthly until the municipality receives
3-11 the fire fighter's or police officer's written revocation of the
3-12 authorization.
3-13 (c) Only a fire fighter or police officer who is a member of
3-14 an employee organization may use for legislative leave purposes the
3-15 time donated to that employee organization. A fire fighter or
3-16 police officer may use for legislative leave purposes the time
3-17 donated under this section in lieu of reimbursing the municipality
3-18 under Section 143.126.
3-19 (d) A request to use for legislative leave purposes the time
3-20 in an employee organization's time account must be in writing and
3-21 submitted to the municipality by the president or the equivalent
3-22 officer of the employee organization or by that officer's designee.
3-23 (e) The municipality shall account for the time donated to
3-24 the account and used from the account. The municipality may:
3-25 (1) determine and credit the actual cash value of the
4-1 donated time in the account and determine and deduct the actual
4-2 cash value of time used from the account for legislative leave
4-3 purposes; or
4-4 (2) credit and debit an account on an hour-for-hour
4-5 basis regardless of the cash value of the time donated or used.
4-6 (f) An employee organization may not use for legislative
4-7 leave purposes more than 4,000 hours from its time account under
4-8 this section in a calendar year. If more than one employee
4-9 organization requests to use legislative leave, each employee
4-10 organization may use a proportional share of the 4,000 hours based
4-11 on the total amount of hours donated to the employee organization
4-12 for its exclusive use before January 2 of the calendar year in
4-13 which the legislative leave is requested. This section does not
4-14 prevent an employee organization from accumulating more than 4,000
4-15 hours. This subsection only limits the total number of donated
4-16 hours that one or more employee organizations may use in any
4-17 calendar year.
4-18 SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this
4-19 section and except for officers currently classified in the
4-20 communication or technical class, a municipality with a population
4-21 of 1,500,000 or more shall reclassify all peace officers in an
4-22 entry level rank in a specialized police division of the police
4-23 department to an equivalent rank in the class currently referred to
4-24 as Class A. This reclassification does not impair a reclassified
4-25 officer's pay, seniority, or other employment benefits accrued by
5-1 the officer on August 31, 1997. An officer reclassified into Class
5-2 A under this section is entitled under Chapter 143, Local
5-3 Government Code, to all benefits to which a similarly situated
5-4 officer in Class A is entitled.
5-5 (b) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), Section 143.103, Local
5-6 Government Code, as amended by this Act, a peace officer in a
5-7 municipality with a population of 1,500,000 or more who holds a
5-8 rank above an entry level rank in a specialized police division of
5-9 the police department shall continue to be governed by the civil
5-10 service rules in effect on August 31, 1997. Except for officers
5-11 currently classified in the communication or technical class:
5-12 (1) when a sergeant position in a specialized police
5-13 division becomes vacant on or after the effective date of this Act,
5-14 it shall be reclassified as a position in the class referred to in
5-15 the municipality as Class A;
5-16 (2) if fewer than three qualified specialized
5-17 sergeants or lieutenants are eligible to take a promotional
5-18 examination for a specialized lieutenant or captain position of a
5-19 specialized police division that becomes vacant on or after the
5-20 effective date of this Act, the vacant position may be reclassified
5-21 as a position in the class referred to in the municipality as Class
5-22 A and a promotional examination may be administered for that
5-23 position unless there is an existing eligibility list of Class A
5-24 officers for that reclassified position; and
5-25 (3) if a specialized lieutenant or captain position of
6-1 a specialized police division is reclassified and a promotional
6-2 examination is administered under Subdivision (2) of this
6-3 subsection, a peace officer in the specialized division who was
6-4 eligible to take the promotional examination for the vacant
6-5 position before the position was reclassified is not eligible to
6-6 take the promotional examination for the vacant position after it
6-7 is reclassified.
6-8 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-9 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
6-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.