BILL ANALYSIS
By: Anchia
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Current state law aligns the overtime policy of police officers with that of other municipal employees. Police officers, however, are often on call during off-duty hours and are required to perform duties that exceed those of other municipal employees. Many Texas cities, including Houston and San Antonio, have collective bargaining agreements with their police officers allowing them to address these issues.
The proposed complete committee substitute for House Bill No. 1768 is tailored to address Dallas—which does not have a collective bargaining agreement—and provide those officers with a more practical method of calculating overtime.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
The proposed complete committee substitute for House Bill No. 1768 does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a State officer, department, agency, or institution.
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
The proposed complete committee substitute for House Bill No. 1768 prohibits police officers from being required to work more than 40 hours a week in a municipality that has a population of more than one million, is not subject to a collective bargaining agreement, and has not adopted the Fire and Police Relations Act.
The substitute provides that in determining whether a police officer is considered to have been required to work overtime, all hours are counted in which: the officer was required to remain on immediate call by continuously remaining in contact with a police department by telephone or radio; the officer was considered to be working overtime in an emergency; and the officer took any authorized leave including attendance incentive leave, vacation leave, holiday leave, compensatory time off, jury duty, military leave or leave because of a death in the family or military leave.
EFFECTIVE DATE
The substitute would take effect on September 1, 2007.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The substitute deletes "sick leave" and adds "attendance incentive leave" as time applicable to a police officer's 40 hour work week.