HBA-JEK H.B. 2706 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2706
By: Reyna, Arthur
Urban Affairs
5/1/2001
Committee Report (Amended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law authorizes peace officers and firefighters employed by
municipalities with a population of 200,000 or more, counties of 500,000 or
more, or the state to take legislative leave to communicate with their
legislators.  The law requires the employee or an association representing
the employee to reimburse the public employer for any expenses incurred as
a result of the legislative leave.  A time bank for legislative leave would
lessen the costs incurred to employees and employee organizations due to
taken legislative leave. House Bill 2706  requires the state, a
municipality with a population of 200,000 or more, or a county with a
population of 500,000 or more to establish and maintain a legislative,
vacation, and sick leave time bank for each of its peace officer or
firefighter employee organizations. 

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 2706 amends the Government Code to require an employer that is a
municipality with a population of 200,000 or more, a county with a
population of 500,000 or more, or the state to establish and maintain a
legislative, vacation, and sick leave time bank for each of its peace
officer or firefighter employee organization.  The bill authorizes a peace
officer or firefighter to donate an unlimited amount of vacation or
compensatory time to the time bank each month in increments of one-quarter
hour.  Unused leave time donated to a leave time bank carries over from
year to year until used by the designated employee organization. 

H.B. 2706 sets forth provisions related to the written donation of time,
the transfer of time to the time bank, and a written request to use time in
the time bank.  The bill authorizes a peace officer or firefighter to use
time from the bank for legislative leave purposes instead of reimbursing
the employer.  The bill authorizes the employer to credit and debit the
time bank on an hour-for-hour basis or on the actual cash value of donated
time in the time bank. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

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

EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS

Committee Amendment No. 1 modifies the bill to apply to a county with a
population of more than one million and less than 1.5 million, rather than
a municipality with a population of 200,000 or more, a county with a
population of 500,000 or more, or the state.  The amendment requires such a
county to establish and maintain a legislative leave time bank, rather than
a legislative leave, vacation, and sick leave time bank, for each peace
officer or firefighter employee organization.  The amendment prohibits a
peace officer or firefighter from donating more than one hour of vacation,
sick, or compensatory time to the time bank each  month, while the original
bill authorized the donation of an unlimited amount of hours each month.