By:  Ellis                                            S.B. No. 1494

         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.

         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to work supplementation programs for certain welfare

 1-2     recipients.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subchapter G, Chapter 2308, Government Code, is

 1-5     amended by adding Section 2308.314 to read as follows:

 1-6           Sec. 2308.314.  PARTICIPATION IN WAGE SUPPLEMENTATION

 1-7     PROGRAMS; DISPLACEMENT OF EMPLOYEES PROHIBITED.  (a)  An employer

 1-8     may not hire a welfare recipient under a wage supplementation

 1-9     program if the hiring:

1-10                 (1)  will result in:

1-11                       (A)  the displacement or partial displacement of

1-12     an employee from an existing position;

1-13                       (B)  the elimination of a vacant position created

1-14     by the lay off of an employee in the previous 90 days.

1-15                       (C)  the elimination of a position that would

1-16     otherwise be a promotion for an existing employee; or

1-17                       (D)  a hiring freeze; or

1-18                 (2)  will impair an existing collective bargaining

1-19     agreement.

1-20           (b)  A participant in the work supplementation program is:

1-21                 (1)  considered an employee of the participating

 2-1     employer for all purposes under state and federal law;

 2-2                 (2)  entitled to receive sick leave, vacation, and paid

 2-3     holidays or other pay to the same extent as other employees of the

 2-4     employer who perform the same type of work; and

 2-5                 (3)  entitled to receive compensation at a rate that is

 2-6     not less than the rate the employer pays other employees with

 2-7     similar background, training, or experience who are performing the

 2-8     same type work.

 2-9           (c)  In this section:

2-10                 (1)  "Participant" means a welfare recipient who

2-11     participates in a work supplementation program.

2-12                 (2)  "Welfare recipient" means a person who receives

2-13     financial assistance under Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, or

2-14     food stamps under the food stamp program administered under Chapter

2-15     33, Human Resources Code.

2-16                 (3)  "Work supplementation program" means a program

2-17     under which the state reserves all or part of the amounts that

2-18     would be payable as benefits to welfare recipients and uses those

2-19     amounts to provide and subsidize jobs for recipients.

2-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.