BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

Senate Research Center

S.B. 389

 

By: Rodríguez; Menéndez

 

Veteran Affairs & Military Installations

 

6/3/2015

 

Enrolled

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

The Government Code mandates that employment preferences in public entities or public works of the state must be given to veterans until approximately 40 percent of public entity employees are veterans. In 2014, less than five percent of state employees, which includes all state agencies and institutions of higher education, were veterans. Currently, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) serves as the central processing agency for job vacancies or placements in an office in the executive or judicial branch of the state government. These offices are directed to list any of their job openings with TWC.

 

S.B. 389 amends Sections 656.002 (Submission of Job Information Forms) and 656.023 (Job Information Forms), Government Code, to require job information forms to include a space for state agencies to include the related military occupation specialty code, if applicable, on all forms and notices relating to state agency employment openings.  Military occupational specialty codes are nine-character codes utilized by the United States military to identify a specific job.  This bill seeks to help veterans be better able to match their military experience with key words in state job postings. 

 

S.B. 389 amends current law relating to the placement of military occupational specialty codes on certain notices of state agency employment openings.

 

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 Subchapter C, Chapter 654, Government Code, by adding Section 654.0375, as follows:

 

Sec. 654.0375. MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY CODE IDENTIFICATION; REPORT. (a) Requires the classification officer to research and identify the military occupational specialty code for each branch of the armed forces of the United States that corresponds to each position contained in the state's position classification plan each state fiscal biennium.

 

(b) Requires the classification officer to report the findings under Subsection (a) in the manner provided by Section 654.037(a)(2) (requiring the classification officer to report the classification officer's findings from the periodic studies of salary rates in other governmental units and in industry for similar work performed in state government to the governor's budget office and the Legislative Budget Board not later than October 1 preceding each regular session of the legislature).

 

(c) Authorizes the classification officer to request the assistance of the Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) in performing a duty required under this section. Requires TVC to provide the requested assistance.

 

SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 656, Government Code, by adding Section 656.002, as follows:

 

Sec. 656.002. MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY CODES ON NOTICES OF EMPLOYMENT OPENINGS. Requires a state agency to include on all forms and notices related to a state agency employment opening the military occupational specialty code for each branch of the armed forces of the United States, identified as provided by Section 654.0375, that corresponds to the employment opening if the duties of the available position correlate with a military occupational specialty.

 

SECTION 3. Amends Section 656.023, Government Code, as follows: 

 

Sec. 656.023.  JOB INFORMATION FORMS. (a) Creates this subsection from existing text. Requires the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to prescribe the forms for information from state agencies necessary for TWC to serve as a central processing agency for state agency job opportunities in Travis County.

 

(b) Requires that a form prescribed by TWC under Subsection (a) include a space for a state agency to list a military occupational specialty code as provided by Section 656.002.

 

SECTION 4. Provides that Section 656.002, Government Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a form or notice relating to an employment opening published or delivered on or after the effective date of this Act. Makes application of this Act prospective. 

 

SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 2015.