1-1     By:  Capelo (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen)                H.B. No. 3603
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 2, 2001;
 1-3     May 3, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 10, 2001, reported favorably by
 1-5     the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 10, 2001, sent to
 1-6     printer.)
 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-8                                   AN ACT
 1-9     relating to the paid leave and the return to duty for certain
1-10     municipal peace officers and firefighters in certain circumstances.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1. Section 143.073(b), Local Government Code, is
1-13     amended to read as follows:
1-14           (b)  At the end of the one-year period, the municipality's
1-15     governing body may extend the line of duty illness or injury leave
1-16     at full or reduced pay.  If the fire fighter's or police officer's
1-17     leave is not extended or the person's salary is reduced below 60
1-18     percent of the person's regular monthly salary, and the person is a
1-19     member of a [municipality has a fire fighter's or police officer's]
1-20     pension fund, the person may retire on pension until able to return
1-21     to duty.
1-22           SECTION 2. Section 143.074, Local Government Code, is amended
1-23     to read as follows:
1-24           Sec. 143.074. REAPPOINTMENT AFTER RECOVERY FROM DISABILITY.
1-25     With the commission's approval and if otherwise qualified, a fire
1-26     fighter or police officer who has been certified by a physician
1-27     selected by a pension [fire fighters' or police officers' relief or
1-28     retirement] fund as having recovered from a disability for which
1-29     the person has been receiving a monthly disability pension is
1-30     eligible for reappointment to the classified position that the
1-31     person held on the date the person qualified for the monthly
1-32     disability pension.
1-33           SECTION 3. (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
1-34           (b)  The change in law made by this Act to Section
1-35     143.073(b), Local Government Code, applies to a leave of absence
1-36     that begins or is in progress on or after the effective date of
1-37     this Act.
1-38                                  * * * * *