1-1     By:  Gallegos                                         S.B. No. 1783
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1999; March 15, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Intergovernmental
 1-4     Relations; April 16, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0;
 1-6     April 16, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1783                   By:  Ellis
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to police department mediation in certain municipalities
1-11     and its effect on time schedules for appeals.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Subchapter G, Chapter 143, Local Government Code,
1-14     is amended by adding Section 143.135 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 143.135.  MEDIATION AND ITS EFFECT ON TIME SCHEDULES FOR
1-16     APPEALS.  (a)  The police department head shall have the authority
1-17     to develop and implement an alternative means of resolution of
1-18     police officer discipline and training through a program of
1-19     mediation.  In order to retain the benefits of such an effective
1-20     alternative approach, all timing dates and deadlines for (i) the
1-21     imposition of discipline under Sections 143.117 and 143.119; (ii)
1-22     appeals under Sections 143.118, 143.120, 143.127, 143.134, and
1-23     143.1016; and (iii) appeals to the commission under Section
1-24     143.1015 shall be tolled for the period of time from the date the
1-25     matter is received by the alternative dispute resolution unit until
1-26     its completion, with or without a written resolution, or its
1-27     referral to another investigatory or grievance process, but no more
1-28     than 60 days, whichever occurs first.  All other time frames and
1-29     deadlines remain unchanged as required by this chapter.
1-30           (b)(1)  All mediations shall be conducted in accordance with
1-31     state law and police department rules and guidelines.  Accordingly,
1-32     all communications, records, conduct, and demeanor of the mediator
1-33     or the parties are confidential.
1-34                 (2)  Any letter, memorandum, document, note, or other
1-35     communication, oral or written, relevant to the dispute made
1-36     between the mediator and the parties to the dispute or between the
1-37     parties to the dispute during the course of the mediation procedure
1-38     is confidential and may not be disclosed unless (i) all parties to
1-39     the dispute consent in writing to the disclosure or (ii) the
1-40     communication is an admission made directly to the mediator by a
1-41     party to the dispute of criminal activity committed by the party
1-42     making the admission.
1-43                 (3)  Any letter, memorandum, document, note, or other
1-44     communication, oral or written, relevant to and made during the
1-45     course of the mediation procedure is admissible and discoverable in
1-46     another separate proceeding only if it is admissible and
1-47     discoverable independent of the mediation.  If this subsection
1-48     conflicts with other legal requirements for disclosure of
1-49     communications or materials, the issue of confidentiality may be
1-50     presented to a court having jurisdiction over the proceedings to
1-51     determine, in camera, whether the facts, circumstances, and context
1-52     of the communications or materials sought to be disclosed warrant a
1-53     protective order of the court or whether the communications or
1-54     materials are subject to disclosure.
1-55                 (4)  With the exception set out in Subdivision (2)(ii),
1-56     a mediator may not be required to testify in a proceeding
1-57     concerning information relating to or arising out of the mediation.
1-58                 (5)  With the exception set out in Section 2008.053,
1-59     Government Code, as added by Chapter 934, Acts of the 75th
1-60     Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, all mediations that are
1-61     resolved to a final agreement will be confidential to the extent
1-62     allowed by law.
1-63           (c)  From the inception through actual mediation, all
1-64     meetings or other procedures are exempt from the 48-hour or other
 2-1     notice requirements mandated by this chapter.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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