By Keel, Greenberg, Bonnen H.B. No. 3167
76R7151 GCH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to benefits from the Employees Retirement System of Texas
1-3 for certain persons employed by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or
1-4 the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 811.001, Government Code, is amended by
1-7 amending Subdivision (8) and adding Subdivision (18) to read as
1-8 follows:
1-9 (8) "Custodial officer" means a member of the
1-10 retirement system who is employed by the Board of Pardons and
1-11 Paroles or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a parole
1-12 officer or caseworker or who is employed by the institutional
1-13 division or the state jail division of the Texas Department of
1-14 Criminal Justice and certified by the department as having a normal
1-15 job assignment that requires frequent or infrequent regularly
1-16 planned contact with, and in close proximity to, inmates of the
1-17 institutional division or inmates or defendants confined in the
1-18 state jail division without the protection of bars, doors, security
1-19 screens, or similar devices and includes assignments normally
1-20 involving supervision or the potential for supervision of inmates
1-21 in inmate housing areas, educational or recreational facilities,
1-22 industrial shops, kitchens, laundries, medical areas, agricultural
1-23 shops or fields, or in other areas on or away from property of the
1-24 institutional division or the state jail division. The term
2-1 includes a member who transfers from the Texas Department of
2-2 Criminal Justice to the managed health care unit of The University
2-3 of Texas Medical Branch or the Texas Tech University Health
2-4 Sciences Center pursuant to Section 9.01, Chapter 238, Acts of the
2-5 73rd Legislature, 1993, elects at the time of transfer to retain
2-6 membership in the retirement system, and is certified by the
2-7 managed health care unit or the health sciences center as having a
2-8 normal job assignment described by this subdivision.
2-9 (18) "Parole officer" has the meaning assigned by
2-10 Section 508.001.
2-11 SECTION 2. Sections 813.506(b) and (c), Government Code, are
2-12 amended to read as follows:
2-13 (b) To be creditable as custodial officer service, service
2-14 performed must be performed as a parole officer or caseworker or
2-15 must meet the requirements of the rules adopted under Subsection
2-16 (a) and [may] be performed by persons in one of the following job
2-17 categories:
2-18 (1) all persons classified as Correctional Officer I
2-19 through warden, including training officers and special operations
2-20 reaction team officers;
2-21 (2) all other employees assigned to work on a unit and
2-22 whose jobs require routine contact with inmates or defendants
2-23 confined in the state jail division, including but not limited to
2-24 farm managers, livestock supervisors, maintenance foremen, shop
2-25 foremen, medical assistants, food service supervisors, stewards,
2-26 education consultants, commodity specialists, and correctional
2-27 counselors;
3-1 (3) employees assigned to administrative offices whose
3-2 jobs require routine contact with inmates or defendants confined in
3-3 the state jail division at least 50 percent of the time, including
3-4 but not limited to investigators, compliance monitors, accountants
3-5 routinely required to audit unit operations, sociologists,
3-6 interviewers, classification officers, and supervising counselors;
3-7 and
3-8 (4) administrative positions whose jobs require
3-9 response to emergency situations involving inmates or defendants
3-10 confined in the state jail division, including but except as
3-11 specified not limited to the director, deputy directors, assistant
3-12 directors, and not more than 25 administrative duty officers.
3-13 (c) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the managed
3-14 health care unit of The University of Texas Medical Branch[,] or
3-15 the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, or the Board of
3-16 Pardons and Paroles, as applicable, shall determine a person's
3-17 eligibility to receive credit as a custodial officer. A
3-18 determination of the department, [or] unit, or board may not be
3-19 appealed by an employee but is subject to change by the retirement
3-20 system.
3-21 SECTION 3. Section 815.505, Government Code, is amended to
3-22 read as follows:
3-23 Sec. 815.505. CERTIFICATION OF NAMES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND
3-24 CUSTODIAL OFFICERS. Not later than the 12th day of the month
3-25 following the month in which a person begins or ceases employment
3-26 as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer, the Public
3-27 Safety Commission, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the
4-1 Parks and Wildlife Commission, the State Board of Pharmacy, the
4-2 Board of Pardons and Paroles, or the Texas Board of Criminal
4-3 Justice, as applicable, shall certify to the retirement system, in
4-4 the manner prescribed by the system, the name of the employee and
4-5 such other information as the system determines is necessary for
4-6 the crediting of service and financing of benefits under this
4-7 subtitle.
4-8 SECTION 4. Before October 1, 1999, the Board of Pardons and
4-9 Paroles and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall certify
4-10 to the Employees Retirement System of Texas, in the manner
4-11 prescribed by the retirement system, the name of each person
4-12 employed by the board on September 1, 1999, as a custodial officer
4-13 as defined by Section 811.001, Government Code, as amended by this
4-14 Act, and such other information as the system determines is
4-15 necessary for the crediting of service and financing of benefits
4-16 under Subtitle B, Title 8, Government Code.
4-17 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-18 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.