By Tillery H.B. No. 2298
76R8489 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. This Act shall be known as the Bill Biles Law.
1-5 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 56, Code of Criminal
1-6 Procedure, is amended by adding Article 56.542 to read as follows:
1-7 Art. 56.542. PAYMENTS FOR CERTAIN DISABLED PEACE OFFICERS.
1-8 (a) In this article, "peace officer":
1-9 (1) means an individual elected, appointed, or
1-10 employed to serve as a peace officer for a governmental entity
1-11 under Article 2.12 or other law; and
1-12 (2) includes a former peace officer who because of an
1-13 injury suffered while performing duties as a peace officer is
1-14 entitled to receive payments under this article.
1-15 (b) If a peace officer employed by the state or a local
1-16 governmental entity in this state sustains an injury as a result of
1-17 criminally injurious conduct on or after September 1, 1989, in the
1-18 performance of the officer's duties as a peace officer and presents
1-19 evidence satisfactory to the attorney general that the officer's
1-20 condition is a total disability resulting in permanent incapacity
1-21 for work and that the total disability has persisted for more than
1-22 12 months, the officer is entitled to an annual payment equal to
1-23 the difference between:
1-24 (1) any amounts received by the officer on account of
2-1 the injury or disability from other sources of income, including
2-2 insurance benefits, federal disability benefits, workers'
2-3 compensation benefits, and benefits from another governmental
2-4 entity, if those amounts do not exceed the amount described by
2-5 Subdivision (2); and
2-6 (2) an amount equal to the officer's average annual
2-7 salary during the officer's final three years as a peace officer.
2-8 (c) The amount of the payment under Subsection (b) is
2-9 subject to an annual cost of living adjustment computed by the
2-10 attorney general. The attorney general shall compute the amount of
2-11 the cost of living adjustment by multiplying the amount of the
2-12 annual payment received by the peace officer under this section
2-13 during the previous year times the percentage by which the Consumer
2-14 Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of
2-15 Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, or its
2-16 successor index, increased during the previous calendar year. The
2-17 attorney general shall compute the amount of an initial payment
2-18 that is based on an injury suffered between September 1, 1989, and
2-19 September 1, 1998, by computing the amount to which the officer is
2-20 entitled under Subsection (b) and adding to that amount the
2-21 cumulative successive cost of living adjustments for the
2-22 intervening years.
2-23 (d) To receive a payment under this section, a peace officer
2-24 must furnish to the attorney general:
2-25 (1) proof that the injury was sustained in the
2-26 performance of the applicant's duties as a peace officer and is a
2-27 total disability resulting in permanent incapacity for work; and
3-1 (2) other information or evidence the attorney general
3-2 requires.
3-3 (e) The attorney general may approve the application without
3-4 a hearing or may conduct a hearing under Article 56.40. The
3-5 decision of the attorney general is subject to judicial review
3-6 under Article 56.48.
3-7 (f) The attorney general may appoint a panel of physicians
3-8 to periodically review each application for assistance under this
3-9 article to ensure the validity of each application and the
3-10 necessity of continued assistance to each peace officer.
3-11 (g) The attorney general shall notify the comptroller of the
3-12 attorney general's determination that a claim under this section is
3-13 valid and justifies payment. On receipt of the notice, the
3-14 comptroller shall issue a warrant to or in behalf of the claimant
3-15 in the proper amount from amounts in the compensation to victims of
3-16 crime fund. A payment under this section to or in behalf of a
3-17 peace officer is payable as soon as possible after the attorney
3-18 general notifies the comptroller. The attorney general and the
3-19 comptroller by rule shall adopt a memorandum of understanding to
3-20 establish procedures under which annual payments continue to a
3-21 peace officer until continued assistance is no longer necessary.
3-22 (h) Article 56.37 does not apply to the filing of an
3-23 application under this article. Other provisions of this chapter
3-24 apply to this article to the extent applicable and consistent with
3-25 this article.
3-26 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-27 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.