By Capelo                                             H.B. No. 3603
         77R12598 KSD-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the paid leave and the return to duty for certain
 1-3     municipal peace officers and firefighters in certain circumstances.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 143.073(b), Local Government Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  At the end of the one-year period, the municipality's
 1-8     governing body may extend the line of duty illness or injury leave
 1-9     at full or reduced pay.  If the fire fighter's or police officer's
1-10     leave is not extended or the person's salary is reduced below 60
1-11     percent of the person's regular monthly salary, and the person is a
1-12     member of a [municipality has a fire fighter's or police officer's]
1-13     pension fund, the person may retire on pension until able to return
1-14     to duty.
1-15           SECTION 2. Section 143.074, Local Government Code, is amended
1-16     to read as follows:
1-17           Sec. 143.074. REAPPOINTMENT AFTER RECOVERY FROM DISABILITY.
1-18     With the commission's approval and if otherwise qualified, a fire
1-19     fighter or police officer who has been certified by a physician
1-20     selected by a pension [fire fighters' or police officers' relief or
1-21     retirement] fund as having recovered from a disability for which
1-22     the person has been receiving a monthly disability pension is
1-23     eligible for reappointment to the classified position that the
1-24     person held on the date the person qualified for the monthly
 2-1     disability pension.
 2-2           SECTION 3. (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
 2-3           (b)  The change in law made by this Act to Section
 2-4     143.073(b), Local Government Code, applies to a leave of absence
 2-5     that begins or is in progress on or after the effective date of
 2-6     this Act.