By:  Bernsen                                          S.B. No. 1806
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to critical incident stress debriefing of public safety
 1-2     employees.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Chapter 180, Local Government Code, is amended by
 1-5     adding Section 180.004 to read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 180.004.  CRITICAL INCIDENT COUNSELING FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
 1-7     EMPLOYEES.  (a)  In this chapter, "public safety employee" means a
 1-8     peace officer, fire fighter, or emergency medical services employee
 1-9     of a municipality.
1-10           (b)  In this chapter, "critical incident stress management"
1-11     means an educational process designed to mitigate the emotional
1-12     impact of a past or future critical incident on public safety
1-13     employees.
1-14           (c)  Upon request by an affected public safety employee, a
1-15     municipality shall provide counseling services by trained critical
1-16     incident stress personnel to that employee if the employee is
1-17     exposed to an emergency scene or incident involving the death or
1-18     serious injury of another person to whom the public safety employee
1-19     is providing service in the performance of the employee's official
1-20     duties.
1-21           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.