BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2924

By: Sheets

Urban Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that the circumstances surrounding the active duty service of fire fighters and police officers who are deployed as Texas National Guardsmen or as U.S. military reservists have changed significantly over recent years and that current military deployments of reservists typically are for periods of up to three months and rarely last as long as 12 months.  H.B. 2924 seeks to address this trend by updating the law relating to military leave time accounts for police and fire departments.  

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

H.B. 2924 amends the Local Government Code to decrease from 12 continuous months to 3 continuous months the minimum period of active duty service as a member of the Texas National Guard or of the U.S. military reserves that is required for a fire fighter or police officer to benefit from a municipality's military leave time account for the applicable department.  The bill removes as a condition for receiving such benefit the exhaustion of the balance of the fire fighter's or police officer's vacation, holiday, and compensatory leave time accumulations.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.