76R13521 AJA-F                          
         By Duncan                                              S.B. No. 264
         Substitute the following for S.B. No. 264:
         By Carter                                          C.S.S.B. No. 264
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the probationary period for certain police officers
 1-3     under the municipal civil service law.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 143.027, Local Government Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 143.027.  PROBATIONARY PERIOD.  (a)  Except as provided
 1-8     by Subsection (b), a [A] person appointed to a beginning position
 1-9     in the fire or police department must serve a probationary period
1-10     of one year beginning on that person's date of employment as a fire
1-11     fighter, police officer, or academy trainee.
1-12           (b)  In a municipality with a population of less than 1.5
1-13     million, a person who is appointed to a beginning position in the
1-14     police department and who has not been commissioned as a peace
1-15     officer in this state before that appointment must serve a
1-16     probationary period of 18 months beginning on that person's date of
1-17     employment as a police officer or academy trainee.
1-18           (c) [(b)]  During a fire fighter's or police officer's
1-19     probationary period, the department head shall discharge the person
1-20     and remove the person from the payroll if the person's appointment
1-21     was not regular or was not made in accordance with this chapter or
1-22     the commission rules.
1-23           (d) [(c)]  During a fire fighter's or police officer's
1-24     probationary period, the person may not be prohibited from joining
 2-1     or required to join an employee organization.  Joining or not
 2-2     joining an employee organization is not a ground for retaining or
 2-3     not retaining a fire fighter or police officer serving a
 2-4     probationary period.
 2-5           (e) [(d)]  A fire fighter or police officer who was appointed
 2-6     in substantial compliance with this chapter and who serves the
 2-7     entire probationary period automatically becomes a full-fledged
 2-8     civil service employee and has full civil service protection.
 2-9           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-10     applies only to the probationary period of a person appointed to a
2-11     beginning position in a police department on or after the effective
2-12     date of this Act.  The probationary period of a person appointed to
2-13     a beginning position in a police department before the effective
2-14     date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately
2-15     before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
2-16     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.