By: Bivins S.B. No. 1483
97S0775/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the appointment of certain officers and employees of
1-2 the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsections (e) and (f), Section 411.007,
1-5 Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (e) An officer or employee of the department may not be
1-7 discharged without just cause. The director shall determine
1-8 whether an officer or employee is to be discharged. An officer or
1-9 employee ordered discharged may appeal to the commission, and
1-10 during the appeal the officer or employee shall be suspended
1-11 without pay. Except as provided in Subsection (f), the [The]
1-12 department may not discharge, suspend, or demote a commissioned
1-13 officer except for the violation of a specific commission rule. If
1-14 the department discharges, suspends, or demotes an officer, the
1-15 department shall deliver to the officer a written statement giving
1-16 the reasons for the action taken. The written statement must point
1-17 out each commission rule alleged to have been violated by the
1-18 officer and must describe the alleged acts of the officer that the
1-19 department contends are in violation of the commission rules. An
1-20 officer commissioned by the department may not be suspended,
1-21 terminated, or subjected to any form of discrimination by the
1-22 department because of the refusal of the officer to take a
1-23 polygraph examination.
2-1 (f) The commission shall establish grades and positions for
2-2 the department. For each grade and position the commission shall
2-3 designate the authority and responsibility within the limits of
2-4 this chapter, set standards of qualifications, and fix
2-5 prerequisites of training, education, and experience. The
2-6 commission shall adopt necessary rules for the appointment,
2-7 promotion, reduction, suspension, and discharge of all employees
2-8 after hearing before the commission. A discharged officer or
2-9 employee is entitled, on application to the commission, to a public
2-10 hearing before the commission, who shall affirm or set aside the
2-11 discharge. A person inducted into the service of the department is
2-12 on probation for the first two years [one year] of service and at
2-13 any time during that period may be discharged without the public
2-14 hearing provided for by this subsection if the director, with the
2-15 advice and consent of the commission, finds the person to be
2-16 unsuitable for the work. Except as provided in Section 411.0071, a
2-17 person promoted into a position through the competitive process of
2-18 the department is on probation for the first two years of service
2-19 in that position, and at any time during that period the person may
2-20 be removed from the position and returned to the position that the
2-21 person held immediately prior to the time of the promotion; the
2-22 removal may be without cause and shall not be considered as based
2-23 on any charge of misconduct by the person. If the person is
2-24 removed from the position to which the person was promoted through
2-25 the competitive process as a result of the filing of a formal
3-1 charge of misconduct, only in the event the individual is
3-2 exonerated must the person be returned to the position that the
3-3 person held immediately prior to being promoted. If the charges of
3-4 misconduct are sustained, the individual may be subject to any
3-5 disciplinary action deemed appropriate by the director.
3-6 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
3-7 amended by adding Section 411.0071 to read as follows:
3-8 Sec. 411.0071. DIRECT APPOINTMENT TO KEY POSITIONS BY
3-9 DIRECTOR. (a) The director may designate as a key position a
3-10 position in the department that involves working directly with the
3-11 director or working on a special assignment in the department.
3-12 (b) The director may directly appoint a person to a position
3-13 designated as a key position under Subsection (a) under criteria
3-14 determined solely by the director. The director's appointment of a
3-15 person to a key position or transfer of a person from a key
3-16 position to another position for which the person is qualified, as
3-17 determined solely by the director, is not subject to Section
3-18 411.007 or 411.0075. A person appointed to a key position under
3-19 this section, on removal from that position, shall be returned to
3-20 the rank the person held, or its equivalent, immediately prior to
3-21 appointment to the key position. If the person is removed from the
3-22 key position as the result of the filing of formal charges of
3-23 misconduct, only in the event the individual is exonerated shall
3-24 the provisions of this subsection apply.
3-25 SECTION 3. The provisions of this Act apply only to
4-1 appointments and promotions made on or after the effective date of
4-2 this Act. A person serving in what is designated as a key position
4-3 at the time of the effective date of this Act shall maintain all
4-4 rights to that position held by the person prior to the effective
4-5 date of this Act. A person promoted through the competitive
4-6 process prior to the effective date of this Act shall not be
4-7 subject to the probationary period provided by Subsection (f),
4-8 Section 411.007, Government Code, as amended by this Act.
4-9 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect on September 1, 1997.
4-10 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-11 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-12 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-13 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-14 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-15 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-16 passage, and it is so enacted.