LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
  
                              April 8, 2001
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Robert Junell, Chair, House Committee on
               Appropriations
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB3281  by Walker (Relating to overtime compensation for
               certain employees of the Texas Forest Service while
               working in an emergency situation.), As Introduced
  
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*  No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.        *
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The bill would allow the Texas Forest Service to pay its employees
overtime compensation for work done in an emergency and to pay its
employees for unused compensatory time accrued while working during an
emergency.  The Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to
compensate non-exempt employees for hours worked over 40 in one week at a
rate 1.5 times the employees' rate of pay.  According to FLSA, an exempt
employee could only earn compensatory time, but could not be paid for
unused compensatory time.

The Forest Service employs 350 FTEs, 250 of which are non-exempt and 100
who are exempt.  The House Committee Substitute for S.B. 1 includes an
overtime contingency appropriation for non-exempt employees of $335,223
for each year of the biennium.

In response to this legislation, the Forest Service states its exempt
employees would be paid on a straight-time basis for additional hours
worked in connection with an emergency.  The Forest Service states the
overtime payment would come from existing resources.
  
Local Government Impact
  
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
  
  
Source Agencies:   576   Texas Forest Service, 710   The Texas A&M
                   University System, 304   Comptroller of Public
                   Accounts
LBB Staff:         JK, SD, PF, JW