By Keffer                                             H.B. No. 3226
         77R176 JRD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to injury leave for certain state employees injured in the
 1-3     course of performance of duty.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Subchapter Z, Chapter 661, Government Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 661.915 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 661.915.  INJURY LEAVE FOR CERTAIN STATE EMPLOYEES.  (a)
 1-8     In this section:
 1-9                 (1)  "Custodial officer" has the meaning assigned by
1-10     Section 811.001.
1-11                 (2)  "Peace officer" means a person who is described by
1-12     Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure.
1-13           (b)  A person appointed or employed as a peace officer by a
1-14     state agency, a custodial officer of the Board of Pardons and
1-15     Paroles or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or an
1-16     investigatory employee of the Department of Protective and
1-17     Regulatory Services is entitled to injury leave, without a
1-18     deduction in salary, without being required to use compensatory
1-19     time off accrued under Chapter 659, and without being required to
1-20     use any other type of leave allowable under this chapter, for an
1-21     injury that occurs during the course of the person's performance of
1-22     duty and results directly from a risk or hazard to which the person
1-23     is exposed because of the nature of the person's duties.  For the
1-24     purposes of this section, the course of performance of a person's
 2-1     duty does not include transportation to or from the person's
 2-2     designated headquarters or the site of an assignment.
 2-3           (c)  To be eligible for injury leave under this section, a
 2-4     person must submit to the person's employer evidence of a medical
 2-5     examination and a recommendation for a specific period of leave
 2-6     from a physician licensed to practice in this state.
 2-7           (d)  The maximum amount of leave available under this section
 2-8     for all injuries occurring at one time is one year.
 2-9           (e)  A person may simultaneously be on injury leave under
2-10     this section and receive workers' compensation benefits under Title
2-11     5, Labor Code, but is not eligible for disability retirement
2-12     benefits under Chapter 814 during the leave period.
2-13           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
2-14     applies only to an injury that occurs on or after that date.