By Bernsen S.B. No. 1692
76R6417 BDH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a requirement that a county jailer have training as a
1-3 peace officer.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 415.051(a), Government Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 (a) Except as provided by Section [Sections 415.054 and]
1-8 415.055, a person may not appoint an officer, county jailer, or
1-9 public security officer unless the officer, county jailer, or
1-10 public security officer has the appropriate license from the
1-11 commission. A law enforcement agency or governmental entity hiring
1-12 a person desiring a commission license must file an application
1-13 with the commission as provided by commission rule. A provision of
1-14 this chapter applying to issuance or revocation of a peace officer
1-15 license applies to issuance or revocation of a public security
1-16 officer license.
1-17 SECTION 2. Section 415.052(b), Government Code, is amended
1-18 to read as follows:
1-19 (b) The commission may issue a permanent license to be an
1-20 officer and may issue a [temporary or] permanent license to be a
1-21 county jailer.
1-22 SECTION 3. Section 415.054, Government Code, is amended to
1-23 read as follows:
1-24 Sec. 415.054. APPOINTMENT OF COUNTY JAILER. (a) A person
2-1 may not be appointed as a county jailer [, except on a temporary
2-2 basis,] unless the person has satisfactorily completed the
2-3 preparatory program of training required for appointment as a peace
2-4 officer at a school operated or licensed by the commission and has
2-5 satisfactorily completed a preparatory program of training in the
2-6 operation of a county jail at a school operated or licensed by the
2-7 commission. [If a county jailer appointed on a temporary basis
2-8 does not satisfactorily complete the program, as prescribed by the
2-9 commission, before one year after the date that the person is
2-10 originally appointed, the person shall be removed from the
2-11 position. A temporary employment may not exceed one year and may
2-12 not be renewed, except that not earlier than one year after a
2-13 person is removed under this subsection the sheriff may petition
2-14 the commission for reinstatement of the person to temporary
2-15 employment.]
2-16 (b) [A county jailer serving under permanent appointment
2-17 before September 1, 1979, regardless of whether the person's
2-18 employment was terminated before that date because of failure to
2-19 satisfy standards adopted under Section 14, Chapter 480, Acts of
2-20 the 64th Legislature, 1975 (Article 5115.1, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-21 Statutes), is not required to meet a requirement of this section as
2-22 a condition of continued employment or promotion unless:]
2-23 [(1) in an attempt to meet the standards the person
2-24 took an examination and failed or was not allowed to finish the
2-25 examination because the person acted dishonestly in regard to the
2-26 examination;]
2-27 [(2) the person forged a document purporting to show
3-1 that the person met the standards; or]
3-2 [(3) the person seeks a new appointment as a county
3-3 jailer on or after September 1, 1984.]
3-4 [(c)] A county jailer serving under permanent appointment
3-5 before September 1, 1979, is eligible to attend training courses in
3-6 the operation of a county jail subject to the commission rules.
3-7 SECTION 4. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-8 (b) Section 415.054, Government Code, as amended by this
3-9 Act, applies to any person appointed as a county jailer on or after
3-10 the effective date of this Act. A person employed as a county
3-11 jailer immediately before the effective date of this Act must
3-12 satisfactorily complete a preparatory program of training required
3-13 for appointment as a peace officer at a school operated or licensed
3-14 by the commission and satisfactorily complete a preparatory program
3-15 of training in the operation of a county jail at a school operated
3-16 or licensed by the commission not later than September 1, 2001, to
3-17 retain the person's position as county jailer.
3-18 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.