1-1     By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 212
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed January 21, 1999; January 28, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; February 22, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0;
 1-6     February 22, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 212                 By:  Moncrief
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to entrance examinations for beginning positions in the
1-11     police departments of certain municipalities.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Section 143.025, Local Government Code, is
1-14     amended to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 143.025.  ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS.  (a)  The commission
1-16     shall provide for open, competitive, and free entrance examinations
1-17     to provide eligibility lists for beginning positions in the fire
1-18     and police departments.  The examinations are open to each person
1-19     who makes a proper application and meets the requirements
1-20     prescribed by this chapter.
1-21           (b)  An eligibility list for a beginning position in the fire
1-22     or police department may be created only as a result of a
1-23     competitive examination held in the presence of each applicant for
1-24     the position, except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e).  The
1-25     examination must be based on the person's knowledge of and
1-26     qualifications for fire fighting and work in the fire department or
1-27     for police work and work in the police department and must inquire
1-28     into the applicant's general education and mental ability.  A
1-29     person may not be appointed to the fire or police department except
1-30     as a result of the examination.
1-31           (c)  An applicant may not take an examination unless at least
1-32     one other applicant taking the examination is present.
1-33           (d)  Examinations for beginning positions in the fire
1-34     department may be held at different locations if each applicant
1-35     takes the same examination and is examined in the presence of other
1-36     applicants.
1-37           (e)  This subsection applies only in a municipality to which
1-38     Subchapter J does not apply.  An examination for beginning
1-39     positions in the police department must be held at one or more
1-40     locations in the municipality in which the police department is
1-41     located and may be held at additional locations outside the
1-42     municipality.  An examination held at multiple locations must be
1-43     administered on the same day and at the same time at each location
1-44     at which it is given.  Only one eligibility list for a police
1-45     department may be created from that examination, and only one
1-46     eligibility list may be in effect at a given time.  Each applicant
1-47     who takes the examination for the eligibility list shall:
1-48                 (1)  take the same examination; and
1-49                 (2)  be examined in the presence of other applicants
1-50     for that eligibility list.
1-51           (f)  An additional five points shall be added to the
1-52     examination grade of an applicant who served in the United States
1-53     armed forces, received an honorable discharge, and made a passing
1-54     grade on the examination.
1-55           (g) [(f)]  An applicant may not take the examination for a
1-56     particular eligibility list more than once.
1-57           (h) [(g)]  The commission shall keep each eligibility list
1-58     for a beginning position in effect for a period of not less than
1-59     six months or more than 12 months, unless the names of all
1-60     applicants on the list have been referred to the appropriate
1-61     department.  The commission shall determine the length of the
1-62     period.  The commission shall give new examinations at times the
1-63     commission considers necessary to provide required staffing for
1-64     scheduled fire or police training academies.
 2-1           (i) [(h)]  The grade to be placed on the eligibility list for
 2-2     each applicant shall be computed by adding an applicant's points
 2-3     under Subsection (f) [(e)], if any, to the applicant's grade on the
 2-4     written examination.  Each applicant's grade on the written
 2-5     examination is based on a maximum grade of 100 percent and is
 2-6     determined entirely by the correctness of the applicant's answers
 2-7     to the questions.  The minimum passing grade on the examination is
 2-8     70 percent.  An applicant must pass the examination to be placed on
 2-9     an eligibility list.
2-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-11     applies only to an entrance examination that is held on or after
2-12     the effective date of this Act.  An entrance examination that is
2-13     held before the effective date of this Act and an eligibility list
2-14     created from that examination is governed by the law in effect on
2-15     the day the examination was held, and the former law is continued
2-16     in effect for that purpose.
2-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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