BILL ANALYSIS
By: Talton
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Chapter 143, Subchapter G of the Local Government Code regulates the eligibility for beginning positions in the Houston Police Department. Currently, there are no provisions in this code that allow previous experience in police work to be considered in the hiring process.
C.S.H.B. 2457 authorizes a police department hiring a new police officer to take into account the applicant's previous experience in another police department in order to determine the extent to which training and examination of the applicant is necessary. The bill also allows the department to adjust beginning longevity pay according to the applicant's previous work experience.
C.S.H.B. 2457 grants hiring police departments some flexibly in their hiring practices and rewards police officers, who are simply switching departments, for their previous service.
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
The bill allows a hiring police department in a municipality with a population of 1.5 million or more to modify the police officer training academy requirements and to administer the entrance examination before academy training if the applicant has had previous experience as a police officer with another police department.
The bill also allows the department to include the number of years, not to exceed five, that a police officer served in another police department, when computing longevity pay.
EFFECTIVE DATE
This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The original version of the bill did not specifically allow the department to take into account previous experience when computing an officer's longevity and base pay.