HBA-EDN H.B. 1282 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1282
By: Wise
State Affairs
3/7/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law prohibits a public official from appointing, confirming, or
voting for the appointment or confirmation of an individual to whom the
official is related regarding a position that is directly or indirectly
compensated from public funds or fees.  Because of this prohibition, a
teacher who retires cannot later return to the same teaching position at
the teacher's regular compensation if the teacher's family member or
relative was elected to the school board, even if the board member was
elected after the teacher was initially employed.  Although the teacher may
have taught in the same school district for a number of years, the teacher
may only be compensated and return to the district as a substitute teacher,
which may result in a significantly lower salary than that of a full-time
teacher.  House Bill 1282 provides that the nepotism prohibition for a
public official does not apply to a family member or relative under certain
conditions.     

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1282 amends the Government Code to provide that a nepotism
prohibition for a public official does not apply to an appointment,
confirmation of an appointment, or vote for an appointment or confirmation
of an appointment of an individual to whom the official is related within
the third degree by consanguinity or within the second degree by affinity
if: 

_the individual was employed in the position, or a substantially similar
position, at any time before the election or appointment of the public
official; 

_the prior employment of the individual in the position, or a substantially
similar position, was continuous for at least 20 years; and 

_the individual is employed in the position not later than the second
anniversary of the date on which the prior employment terminated.  

H.B. 1282 provides that if an individual is employed in a position under
these provisions, the public official is prohibited from participating in
any deliberation or voting on the appointment, reappointment, confirmation
of the appointment or reappointment, employment, reemployment, change in
status, compensation, or dismissal of the individual if that action applies
only to the individual and is not taken regarding a bona fide class or
category of employees. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.