AN ACT
1-1 relating to entrance examinations for beginning positions in the
1-2 police departments of certain municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 143.025, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 143.025. ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS. (a) The commission
1-7 shall provide for open, competitive, and free entrance examinations
1-8 to provide eligibility lists for beginning positions in the fire
1-9 and police departments. The examinations are open to each person
1-10 who makes a proper application and meets the requirements
1-11 prescribed by this chapter.
1-12 (b) An eligibility list for a beginning position in the fire
1-13 or police department may be created only as a result of a
1-14 competitive examination held in the presence of each applicant for
1-15 the position, except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e). The
1-16 examination must be based on the person's knowledge of and
1-17 qualifications for fire fighting and work in the fire department or
1-18 for police work and work in the police department and must inquire
1-19 into the applicant's general education and mental ability. A
1-20 person may not be appointed to the fire or police department except
1-21 as a result of the examination.
1-22 (c) An applicant may not take an examination unless at least
1-23 one other applicant taking the examination is present.
1-24 (d) Examinations for beginning positions in the fire
2-1 department may be held at different locations if each applicant
2-2 takes the same examination and is examined in the presence of other
2-3 applicants.
2-4 (e) This subsection applies only in a municipality to which
2-5 Subchapter J does not apply. An examination for beginning
2-6 positions in the police department must be held at one or more
2-7 locations in the municipality in which the police department is
2-8 located and may be held at additional locations outside the
2-9 municipality. An examination held at multiple locations must be
2-10 administered on the same day and at the same time at each location
2-11 at which it is given. Only one eligibility list for a police
2-12 department may be created from that examination, and only one
2-13 eligibility list may be in effect at a given time. Each applicant
2-14 who takes the examination for the eligibility list shall:
2-15 (1) take the same examination; and
2-16 (2) be examined in the presence of other applicants
2-17 for that eligibility list.
2-18 (f) An additional five points shall be added to the
2-19 examination grade of an applicant who served in the United States
2-20 armed forces, received an honorable discharge, and made a passing
2-21 grade on the examination.
2-22 (g) [(f)] An applicant may not take the examination for a
2-23 particular eligibility list more than once.
2-24 (h) [(g)] The commission shall keep each eligibility list
2-25 for a beginning position in effect for a period of not less than
2-26 six months or more than 12 months, unless the names of all
3-1 applicants on the list have been referred to the appropriate
3-2 department. The commission shall determine the length of the
3-3 period. The commission shall give new examinations at times the
3-4 commission considers necessary to provide required staffing for
3-5 scheduled fire or police training academies.
3-6 (i) [(h)] The grade to be placed on the eligibility list for
3-7 each applicant shall be computed by adding an applicant's points
3-8 under Subsection (f) [(e)], if any, to the applicant's grade on the
3-9 written examination. Each applicant's grade on the written
3-10 examination is based on a maximum grade of 100 percent and is
3-11 determined entirely by the correctness of the applicant's answers
3-12 to the questions. The minimum passing grade on the examination is
3-13 70 percent. An applicant must pass the examination to be placed on
3-14 an eligibility list.
3-15 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
3-16 applies only to an entrance examination that is held on or after
3-17 the effective date of this Act. An entrance examination that is
3-18 held before the effective date of this Act and an eligibility list
3-19 created from that examination is governed by the law in effect on
3-20 the day the examination was held, and the former law is continued
3-21 in effect for that purpose.
3-22 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 212 passed the Senate on
March 11, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 212 passed the House on
April 16, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor