BILL ANALYSIS
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Senate Research Center |
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AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Current law allows police officers, in municipalities with a population of one million or greater, who are members of a law enforcement association, to donate up to two hours of accumulated (municipal) vacation or compensatory leave time to a "business leave time" account. Business leave time in that account may be used, with approval, by association members for purposes of supporting the organization, such as traveling to Austin to lobby on issues affecting their association.
However, current law has been interpreted to require that every officer in an association must sign a form in agreement to allow business leave time to be donated. This has caused difficulty in large associations because a single member can prevent the utilization of this option.
H.B. 2509 addresses this issue by adding a provision to the Local Government Code that will allow an affirmative vote by the majority of an association's membership to be sufficient to allow the association to utilize the business leave time option.
H.B. 2509 amends current law relating to the business leave time account for a police officer employee organization in certain municipalities.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 142.013(d), Local Government Code, as follows:
(d) Provides that donations to the business leave time account of an employee organization by its members to be authorized in one of the following ways:
(1) if the majority of the membership of the employee organization has not affirmatively voted to require contributions by the employee organization's members to its business leave time account:
(A) a police officer is required to authorize the donation in writing on a form provided by the employee organization and approved by the municipality; and
(B) after receiving the signed authorization on an approved form, the municipality is required to transfer donated time to the account monthly until the municipality receives the police officer's written revocation of the authorization; or
(2) if the majority of the membership of the employee organization has affirmatively voted to require contributions by the employee organization's members to its business leave time account:
(A) except as provided by Paragraph (C), the municipality is required to transfer donated time to the employee organization's business leave time account from the accumulated vacation or compensatory time of each police officer who is a member of the employee organization in the amount approved by vote of the employee organization not to exceed the amount allowed under Subsection (c);
(B) the municipality is required to transfer the donated time to the account monthly beginning with the first calendar month that begins after the date of the employee organization vote requiring contributions; and
(C) each year, during the period beginning on the 60th day before the anniversary of the first day of the first calendar month in which donations were first transferred to the business leave time account of the employee organization under Paragraph (B) and ending on the 30th day before that anniversary, a police officer who is a member of the employee organization is authorized to inform the municipality in writing on a form provided by the employee organization and approved by the municipality that the police officer chooses to not donate time to the account during the 12-month period beginning with that anniversary.
Deletes existing text requiring a police officer to authorize the donation in writing on a form provided by the employee organization and approved by the municipality. Deletes existing text requiring a municipality, after receiving the signed authorization on an approved form, to transfer donated time to the account monthly until the municipality receives the police officer's written revocation of the authorization. Makes nonsubstantive changes.
SECTION 2. Repealer: Section 142.013(i) (relating to prohibiting an employee organization from using for business leave purposes more than 4,000 hours from its business leave time account), Local Government Code.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2013.