By:  Carona                                                       S.B. No. 189


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the selection of public members to the committee to 
review salaries and expenses of elected county or precinct 
officers.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 152.014, Local 
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  In each county there is a salary grievance committee 
composed of the county judge and:
		(1)  the sheriff, county tax assessor-collector, 
county treasurer, county clerk, district clerk, county attorney or 
criminal district attorney, and the number of public members 
necessary to provide nine voting members; or
		(2)  nine public members, if the commissioners court 
votes [in January each year] to have nine public members.
	SECTION 2.  Subsections (a) and (c), Section 152.015, Local 
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The public members of the salary grievance committee 
shall be selected at a meeting of the court not later than the 15th 
day after the date a request for a hearing is received under Section 
152.016(a) [in January each year].  If a request for a public 
hearing is not received, the commissioners court is not required to 
select public members.
	(c)  A public member serves until the later of:                         
		(1)  the end of the fiscal year in which the public 
member [a successor] is appointed; or
		(2)  the time the committee takes a final vote on the 
last of the grievances for which the committee held a public hearing
[the following January].
	SECTION 3.  Section 152.016, Local Government Code, is 
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to 
read as follows:
	(b)  The committee shall hold a public hearing not later than 
the later of the 10th day [within 10 days] after:
		(1)  the date the request is received; or                       
		(2)  the date the commissioners court selects the 
public members of the committee.
	(b-1)  The chairman shall announce the time and place of the 
hearing. 
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2004, and 
applies only to the salary or expense of an elected county or 
precinct officer for a county fiscal year that begins on or after 
that date.