1-1 By: Gallegos S.B. No. 1286
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1997; March 18, 1997, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
1-4 Relations; April 14, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0;
1-6 April 14, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1286 By: Gallegos
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to civil service for firefighters and 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 143.103, Local Government Code, is
1-14 amended to read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 143.103. SPECIALIZED POLICE DIVISIONS. (a) A peace
1-16 officer employed by a municipal department in which the peace
1-17 officer performs duties in a specialized police division, including
1-18 a person employed as a park police officer, airport police officer,
1-19 or municipal marshal, is entitled to civil service status under
1-20 this chapter. The governing body of the municipality employing a
1-21 peace officer in a specialized police division shall classify the
1-22 officer in accordance with Section 143.021 and the duties performed
1-23 by the peace officer.
1-24 (b) Except for positions classified in the communication or
1-25 technical class, the governing body of the municipality employing a
1-26 peace officer in a specialized police division shall classify a
1-27 position in the division in the same class as a police officer
1-28 position that is not in a specialized police division. [A peace
1-29 officer who is employed in a specialized police division is
1-30 eligible for promotion within the officer's respective class.] A
1-31 member of a particular division [class] is [not] eligible for
1-32 promotion or lateral crossover to a position outside that division
1-33 [class, and lateral crossover by promotion by a member of one class
1-34 to another class is prohibited]. [If a member of one class wants
1-35 to change classes, the member must qualify and enter the new class
1-36 at the lowest entry level of that class.] The head of the police
1-37 department, assistant chiefs of police, and deputy chiefs of
1-38 police, or their equivalent, regardless of name or title, may
1-39 exercise the full sanctions, powers, and duties of their respective
1-40 offices in the supervision, management, and control of the members
1-41 of those classes and divisions, subject to the decisions of the
1-42 department head regarding the chain of command in the department.
1-43 (c) In departments in which a collective bargaining
1-44 agreement or a meet-and-confer agreement exists, Subsection (b)
1-45 must be approved by the collective bargaining agent,
1-46 meet-and-confer agent, or entity representing the sworn officers of
1-47 the department.
1-48 (d) Each applicable provision of this chapter, including the
1-49 provisions relating to eligibility lists, examinations, promotions,
1-50 appointments, educational incentive pay, longevity or seniority
1-51 pay, certification pay, assignment pay, salary, vacation leave, and
1-52 disciplinary appeals, applies to a peace officer employed by the
1-53 municipality in a specialized police division as provided by this
1-54 section.
1-55 SECTION 2. Subchapter G, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,
1-56 is amended by adding Section 143.1261 to read as follows:
1-57 Sec. 143.1261. LEGISLATIVE LEAVE ACCOUNT. (a) A
1-58 firefighter or police officer may donate not more than one hour for
1-59 each month of accumulated vacation or compensatory time to an
1-60 employee organization. The municipality shall establish and
1-61 maintain a legislative leave time account for each employee
1-62 organization.
1-63 (b) The firefighter or police officer must authorize the
1-64 donation in writing on a form provided by the employee organization
2-1 and approved by the municipality. After receiving the signed
2-2 authorization on an approved form, the municipality shall transfer
2-3 donated time to the account monthly until the municipality receives
2-4 the firefighter's or police officer's written revocation of the
2-5 authorization.
2-6 (c) Only a firefighter or police officer who is a member of
2-7 an employee organization may use for legislative leave purposes the
2-8 time donated to that employee organization. A firefighter or
2-9 police officer may use for legislative leave purposes the time
2-10 donated under this section in lieu of reimbursing the municipality
2-11 under Section 143.126.
2-12 (d) A request to use for legislative leave purposes the time
2-13 in an employee organization's time account must be in writing and
2-14 submitted to the municipality by the president or the equivalent
2-15 officer of the employee organization or by that officer's designee.
2-16 (e) The municipality shall account for the time donated to
2-17 the account and used from the account. The municipality may:
2-18 (1) determine and credit the actual cash value of the
2-19 donated time in the account and determine and deduct the actual
2-20 cash value of time used from the account for legislative leave
2-21 purposes; or
2-22 (2) credit and debit an account on an hour-for-hour
2-23 basis regardless of the cash value of the time donated or used.
2-24 (f) An employee organization may not use for legislative
2-25 leave purposes more than 4,000 hours from its time account under
2-26 this section in a calendar year.
2-27 SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this
2-28 section and except for officers currently classified in the
2-29 communication or technical class, a municipality with a population
2-30 of 1,500,000 or more shall reclassify all peace officers in an
2-31 entry level rank in a specialized police division of the police
2-32 department to an equivalent rank in the class currently referred to
2-33 as Class A. This reclassification does not impair a reclassified
2-34 officer's pay, seniority, or other employment benefits accrued by
2-35 the officer on August 31, 1997. An officer reclassified into Class
2-36 A under this section is entitled under Chapter 143, Local
2-37 Government Code, to all benefits to which a similarly situated
2-38 officer who is not reclassified by this Act is entitled.
2-39 (b) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), Section 143.103, Local
2-40 Government Code, as amended by this Act, a peace officer in a
2-41 municipality with a population of 1,500,000 or more who holds a
2-42 rank above an entry level rank in a specialized police division of
2-43 the police department shall continue to be governed by the civil
2-44 service rules in effect on August 31, 1997. Except for officers
2-45 currently classified in the communication or technical class:
2-46 (1) when a sergeant position in a specialized police
2-47 division becomes vacant, it shall be reclassified as a position in
2-48 the class referred to in the municipality as Class A on the
2-49 effective date of this Act; and
2-50 (2) if fewer than three qualified specialized
2-51 sergeants or lieutenants are eligible to take a promotional
2-52 examination for a vacant specialized lieutenant or captain position
2-53 of a specialized police division, the vacant position shall be
2-54 reclassified as a position in the class referred to in the
2-55 municipality as Class A on the effective date of this Act.
2-56 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-57 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-58 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-59 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-60 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-61 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-62 * * * * *