By Tillery H.B. No. 2203
76R8126 BDH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to benefits for certain disabled peace officers.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 56, Code of Criminal
1-5 Procedure, is amended by adding Article 56.542 to read as follows:
1-6 Art. 56.542. PAYMENTS FOR CERTAIN DISABLED PEACE OFFICERS.
1-7 (a) In this article, "peace officer":
1-8 (1) means an individual elected, appointed, or
1-9 employed to serve as a peace officer for a governmental entity
1-10 under Article 2.12 or other law; and
1-11 (2) includes a former peace officer who because of an
1-12 injury suffered while performing duties as a peace officer is
1-13 entitled to receive payments under this article.
1-14 (b) If a peace officer employed by the state or a local
1-15 governmental entity in this state sustains an injury as a result of
1-16 criminally injurious conduct on or after September 1, 1989, in the
1-17 performance of the officer's duties as a peace officer and presents
1-18 evidence satisfactory to the attorney general that the officer's
1-19 condition is a total disability resulting in permanent incapacity
1-20 for work and that the total disability has persisted for more than
1-21 12 months, the officer is entitled to an annual payment equal to
1-22 the difference between:
1-23 (1) any amounts received by the officer on account of
1-24 the injury or disability from other sources of income, including
2-1 insurance benefits, federal disability benefits, workers'
2-2 compensation benefits, and benefits from another governmental
2-3 entity, if those amounts do not exceed the amount described by
2-4 Subdivision (2); and
2-5 (2) an amount equal to the officer's average annual
2-6 salary during the officer's final three years as a peace officer.
2-7 (c) The amount of the payment under Subsection (b) is
2-8 subject to an annual cost of living adjustment computed by the
2-9 attorney general. The attorney general shall compute the amount of
2-10 the cost of living adjustment by multiplying the amount of the
2-11 annual payment received by the peace officer under this section
2-12 during the previous year times the percentage by which the Consumer
2-13 Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of
2-14 Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, or its
2-15 successor index, increased during the previous calendar year. The
2-16 attorney general shall compute the amount of an initial payment
2-17 that is based on an injury suffered between September 1, 1989, and
2-18 September 1, 1998, by computing the amount to which the officer is
2-19 entitled under Subsection (b) and adding to that amount the
2-20 cumulative successive cost of living adjustments for the
2-21 intervening years.
2-22 (d) To receive a payment under this section, a peace officer
2-23 must furnish to the attorney general:
2-24 (1) proof that the injury was sustained in the
2-25 performance of the applicant's duties as a peace officer and is a
2-26 total disability resulting in permanent incapacity for work; and
2-27 (2) other information or evidence the attorney general
3-1 requires.
3-2 (e) The attorney general may approve the application without
3-3 a hearing or may conduct a hearing under Article 56.40. The
3-4 decision of the attorney general is subject to judicial review
3-5 under Article 56.48.
3-6 (f) The attorney general may appoint a panel of physicians
3-7 to periodically review each application for assistance under this
3-8 article to ensure the validity of each application and the
3-9 necessity of continued assistance to each peace officer.
3-10 (g) The attorney general shall notify the comptroller of the
3-11 attorney general's determination that a claim under this section is
3-12 valid and justifies payment. On receipt of the notice, the
3-13 comptroller shall issue a warrant to or in behalf of the claimant
3-14 in the proper amount from amounts in the compensation to victims of
3-15 crime fund. A payment under this section to or in behalf of a
3-16 peace officer is payable as soon as possible after the attorney
3-17 general notifies the comptroller. The attorney general and the
3-18 comptroller by rule shall adopt a memorandum of understanding to
3-19 establish procedures under which annual payments continue to a
3-20 peace officer until continued assistance is no longer necessary.
3-21 (h) Article 56.37 does not apply to the filing of an
3-22 application under this article. Other provisions of this chapter
3-23 apply to this article to the extent applicable and consistent with
3-24 this article.
3-25 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-26 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.