80R11732 E
 
  By: Menendez H.B. No. 1636
 
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1636:
 
  By:  Murphy C.S.H.B. No. 1636
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to conditions of employment for certain peace officers.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Section 142.051(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
       (b)  This subchapter does not apply to:
             (1)  a peace officer who is covered by [a municipality
that]:
                   (A)  a collective bargaining agreement [(1)has]
adopted under Chapter 174; or
                   (B)  an agreement adopted under [(2) is covered
by] Subchapter H, I, or J, Chapter 143; or
             (2)  a municipality that [(3)] has a population of one
million or more and has not adopted Chapter 143.
       SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 142, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 142.069 to read as follows:
       Sec. 142.069.  CERTAIN PEACE OFFICERS EMPLOYED BY
MUNICIPALITY. (a) In this section:
             (1)  "Peace officer" means a peace officer under
Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure.
             (2)  "Peace officers association" means an employee
organization in which peace officers employed by a municipal
department other than the police department participate that exists
for the purpose, wholly or partly, of dealing with the municipality
or public employer concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages,
rates of pay, hours of work, or conditions of work affecting peace
officers.
       (b)  This section applies only in relation to a peace officer
employed by a municipality in a department other than the police
department. This section does not apply in relation to members of
the police department.
       (c)  Not later than the 30th day after the date the governing
body of a municipality receives from a peace officers association a
petition signed by the majority of all peace officers employed by a
department of the municipality other than the police department,
excluding the head of the affected department, that requests
recognition of the association as the sole and exclusive bargaining
agent for all peace officers employed in that department, excluding
the head of the department, the governing body shall:
             (1)  grant recognition of the association as requested
in the petition and determine by majority vote that a public
employer may meet and confer with the peace officers association
under this subchapter without conducting an election by the voters
in the municipality under the procedures prescribed by Section
142.055;
             (2)  defer granting recognition of the association and
order an election by the voters in the municipality held under the
procedures prescribed by Section 142.055 regarding whether a public
employer may meet and confer with the peace officers association
under this subchapter; or
             (3)  order a certification election held under the
procedures prescribed by Section 142.054 to determine whether the
association represents a majority of the affected peace officers.
       (d)  If more than one department within a municipality,
excluding the police department, employs peace officers, a separate
petition must be submitted under Subsection (c) for each
department's peace officers.
       (e)  If the governing body of a municipality orders a
certification election under Subsection (c)(3) and the association
named in the petition is certified to represent a majority of the
peace officers of the affected municipal department, the governing
body shall, not later than the 30th day after the date the results
of that election are certified:
             (1)  grant recognition of the association as requested
in the petition for recognition and determine by majority vote that
a public employer may meet and confer with the peace officers
association under this subchapter without conducting an election by
the voters in the municipality under the procedures prescribed by
Section 142.055; or
             (2)  defer granting recognition of the association and
order an election by the voters in the municipality held under the
procedures prescribed by Section 142.055 regarding whether a public
employer may meet and confer with a peace officers association
under this subchapter.
       (f)  The ballot for an election ordered under this section
and held under the procedures prescribed by Section 142.055 shall
be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition:
"Authorizing __________ (name of the municipality) to operate under
the state law allowing a municipality to meet and confer and make
agreements with the association representing _________________
(description of affected municipal peace officers) as provided by
state law, preserving the prohibition against strikes and organized
work stoppages, and providing penalties for strikes and organized
work stoppages."
       (g)  If a municipality recognizes a peace officers
association under this section, this subchapter applies to the
municipality, the recognized peace officers association for the
affected municipal department, and the affected peace officers in
the same manner as it applies to a police officers association and
police officers.  The wording of any ballot proposition not covered
by Subsection (f) shall be conformed accordingly.
       (h)  General Provisions Relating to Agreements.
             (1)  A municipality acting under Section 142.069 may
not be denied local control over the wages, salaries, rates of pay,
hours of work, or other terms and conditions of employment to the
extent the public employer and the police officers association
recognized as the sole and exclusive bargaining agent under this
subchapter agree as provided by this subchapter, if the agreement
is ratified and not withdrawn in accordance with this subchapter.
Applicable statutes and applicable local orders, ordinances, and
civil service rules apply to an issue not governed by the meet and
confer agreement.
             (2)  A meet and confer agreement under this subchapter
must be written.
             (3)  This subchapter does not require a public employer
or a recognized police officers association to meet and confer on
any issue or reach an agreement.
             (4)  A public employer and the recognized police
officers association may meet and confer only if the association
does not advocate an illegal strike by public employees.
             (5)  While a meet and confer agreement under this
subchapter between the public employer and the recognized police
officers association is in effect, the public employer may not
accept a petition, with regard to the police officers of the
municipality requesting an election to adopt:
                   (A)  municipal civil service under Chapter 143; or
                   (B)  collective bargaining under Chapter 174.
       SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.