BILL ANALYSIS
By: Isett
Committee Report (Unammended)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Under current regulations, a state law enforcement officer injured in the line of duty must exhaust accrued sick days and compensatory time off before going on worker’s compensation. The depleted sick leave days can no longer be used for illness or for early retirement later in the officer’s career.
H.B. 1428, the Peace Officer Protection Act, entitles certain peace officers to injury leave without being required to use generated compensatory time off and without salary deductions for injuries resulting from assaultive offenses that occur during the course of performing their duties. H.B. 1428 also ensures that injury officers can receive workers’ compensation benefits while on injury leave. The Act applies to Department of Public Safety officers, game wardens, and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission investigators.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. States that this Act may be called the Peace Officer Protection Act.
SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter Z, Chapter 661, Government Code, by adding Section 661.918 which applies to a peace officer commissioned as a law enforcement officer or agent, including a ranger, by the Public Safety Commission and the director of the Department of Public Safety; the Parks and Wildlife Commission; or the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
A peace officer who suffers an injury resulting from an assaultive offense to which the person is exposed due to the nature of and while performing the person’s duties is entitled to injury leave, without a deduction in salary, without being required to use compensatory time off, or without being required to use any other type of leave allowable. Performance of duties does not include transportation to or from the peace officer’s designated headquarters or the site of an assignment.
To be eligible for injury leave, an injured officer must provide evidence of a medical examination and a recommendation from a licensed physician for a specific period of leave. The maximum amount of leave for all injuries sustained at one time can not exceed one year.
An injured officer on leave is authorized to simultaneously be on injury leave and receive workers’ compensation benefits, but is not eligible for disability retirement benefits during the leave period.
SECTION 3. Section 661.918, Government Code, applies only to an injury resulting from an assautlive offense that occurs on or after December 1, 2004.
SECTION 4. Effective Date
EFFECTIVE DATE
Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2005.