By: Barrientos S.B. No. 1513
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to various state workforce issues.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 659.254, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 659.254. REALLOCATION OR RECLASSIFICATION OF A
CLASSIFIED POSITION [REALLOCATED OR RECLASSIFIED TO A DIFFERENT
SALARY GROUP]. (a) This section applies only to positions
classified under the state's position classification plan.
(b) In this section:
(1) "higher salary group" means a salary group with a
higher minimum salary rate; [and]
(2) "lower salary group" means a salary group with a
lower minimum salary rate[.]; and
(3) "same salary group" means a salary group with the
same minimum salary rate.
(c) An employee whose classified position is reallocated by
the General Appropriations Act or reclassified under Chapter 654 to
a higher salary group will be paid at the minimum salary rate in the
higher salary group or at the salary rate the employee would have
received without the reallocation or reclassification, whichever
rate is higher, except to maintain desirable salary relationships
among employees in the affected positions, the salary may be
adjusted up to a percentage above the minimum of the new salary rate
in the new salary group equivalent to the corresponding percentage
of the salary rate held by the employee before the reallocation or
the reclassification[not more than:
(1) two steps higher, if the employee's salary group is
divided into steps by the General Appropriations Act; or
(2) 6.8 percent higher, if the employee's salary group
is not divided into steps by the General Appropriations Act].
(d) An employee whose classified position is reallocated by
the General Appropriations Act or reclassified under Chapter 654 to
a lower salary group will be paid at the salary rate that the
employee would have received had the position not been reallocated
or reclassified, not to exceed the maximum rate of the lower salary
group.
(e) To maintain desirable salary relationships among
employees in the affected positions, an employee whose classified
position is reclassified to another position in the same salary
group may be paid at any rate within the salary group range.
SECTION 2. Section 659.260, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 659.260. TEMPORARY ASSIGNMENT. [(a) This section
applies only to an employee whose permanent position is classified
under the state's position classification plan.]
(a) [(b)] To facilitate a state agency's work during an
emergency or other special circumstance, an employee may be
temporarily assigned to other duties for a period not to exceed six
months. The employee is entitled to receive during the period of
reassignment at least the same rate of pay that the employee
received immediately before the reassignment. An employee may not
be temporarily assigned under this subsection to a position
classified in a salary group with a lower minimum salary rate.
(b) [(c)] An employee may not be assigned temporary duties
under this section for more than six months during a twelve-month
period.
(c) [(d)] An employee temporarily designated to act as the
administrative head of a state agency may continue to receive a
salary for a classified position in an amount not to exceed the
amount established by the General Appropriations Act for the
administrative head of the agency.
(d) [(e)] While the employee is temporarily assigned under
this section, the state agency may not:
(1) award a merit salary increase to the employee; or
(2) promote or demote the employee.
SECTION 3. Subsection (e), Section 661.152, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(e) In this subsection, "duty" means an employee's last
physical day on the job. An employee accrues vacation leave at the
applicable rate beginning on the first day of state employment and
ending on the last duty day of state employment. An employee
accrues and is entitled to be credited for one month's vacation
leave for each month of employment with the state beginning on the
first day of employment with the state and on the first calendar day
of each succeeding month of state employment. An employee who is
employed by the state during any part of a calendar month accrues
vacation leave entitlement for the entire calendar month.
SECTION 4. Subsection (b), Section 661.202, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) In this subsection, "duty" means an employee's last
physical day on the job. An employee accrues sick leave beginning
on the first day of state employment and ending on the last duty day
of state employment. An employee is entitled to be credited for one
month's accrual of sick leave at the rate specified by Subsection
(c) for each month of employment with the state beginning on the
first day of employment with the state and on the first calendar day
of each succeeding month of state employment.
SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Section 661.206, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) An employee may use up to eight hours of sick leave each
fiscal [calendar] year to attend parent-teacher conference
sessions for the employee's children.
SECTION 6. Section 662.010, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 662.010. HOLIDAY BEFORE WORK BEGINS OR AFTER WORK
ENDS. (a) An individual must be a state employee on the workday
before and after a state or national holiday in order to be paid for
that holiday, unless the holiday falls on the employee's first or
last workday of the month[who is not a state employee on the last
workday before a state or national holiday but who is a state
employee on the first workday after the holiday may not be paid for
the holiday if it occurs during the same month as the last workday
before the holiday.
(b) An individual who is a state employee on the last
workday before a state or national holiday but who is not a state
employee on the first workday after the holiday may not be paid for
the holiday if it occurs before the first workday of a month and
during that month.].
(b) [(c)] In this section, "state employee":
(1) includes an individual who uses paid leave from a
state agency; and
(2) does not include an individual who uses unpaid
leave from a state agency.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.