By: Hinojosa  S.B. No. 1355
         (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2015; March 18, 2015, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
  May 12, 2015, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 12, 2015,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1355 By:  Whitmire
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to compensation and leave for certain peace officers.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 5, Alcoholic Beverage
  Code, is amended by adding Section 5.21 to read as follows:
         Sec. 5.21.  DONATION OF ACCRUED COMPENSATORY TIME OR ACCRUED
  ANNUAL LEAVE FOR LEGISLATIVE PURPOSES.  (a)  The administrator
  shall allow a peace officer employed by the commission to
  voluntarily transfer to a legislative leave pool up to eight hours
  of compensatory time or annual leave per year earned by the peace
  officer.
         (b)  The administrator or the administrator's designee shall
  administer the legislative leave pool.
         (c)  The commission shall adopt rules and prescribe
  procedures relating to the operation of the legislative leave pool.
         (d)  The administrator or the administrator's designee shall
  credit the legislative leave pool with the amount of time
  contributed by a peace officer and deduct a corresponding amount of
  time from the peace officer's earned compensatory time or annual
  leave as if the peace officer had used the time for personal
  purposes.
         (e)  A peace officer is entitled to use time contributed to
  the legislative leave pool if the peace officer uses the time for
  legislative leave on behalf of a law enforcement association of at
  least 50 active or retired members governed by a board of directors.
         (f)  The administrator or the administrator's designee shall
  transfer time from the pool to the peace officer and credit the time
  to the peace officer.
         (g)  A peace officer may only withdraw time from the
  legislative leave pool in coordination with and with the consent of
  the president or designee of the law enforcement association
  described in Subsection (e).  A peace officer may not draw more than
  80 hours from the pool in a 160-hour work cycle and may not draw more
  than 480 hours from the pool in a fiscal year.
         (h)  A peace officer shall use time from the legislative
  leave pool in accordance with rules adopted by the commission.
         SECTION 2.  Section 402.009, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 402.009.  AUTHORITY TO EMPLOY AND COMMISSION PEACE
  OFFICERS. (a)  The attorney general may employ and commission
  peace officers as investigators for the limited purpose of
  assisting the attorney general in carrying out the duties of that
  office relating to prosecution assistance and crime prevention.
         (b)  The attorney general shall ensure that a commissioned
  peace officer employed as authorized under Subsection (a) is
  compensated according to Schedule C of the position classification
  salary schedule prescribed by the General Appropriations Act.
         SECTION 3.  Section 659.301(5), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
               (5)  "State employee" means an individual who:
                     (A)  is a commissioned law enforcement officer of
  the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Facilities Commission,
  the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, [or] the Texas Department
  of Criminal Justice, or the attorney general;
                     (B)  is a commissioned security officer of the
  comptroller;
                     (C)  is a law enforcement officer commissioned by
  the Parks and Wildlife Commission;
                     (D)  is a commissioned peace officer of an
  institution of higher education;
                     (E)  is an employee or official of the Board of
  Pardons and Paroles or the parole division of the Texas Department
  of Criminal Justice if the employee or official has routine direct
  contact with inmates of any penal or correctional institution or
  with administratively released prisoners subject to the board's
  jurisdiction;
                     (F)  has been certified to the Employees
  Retirement System of Texas under Section 815.505 as having begun
  employment as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer,
  unless the individual has been certified to the system as having
  ceased employment as a law enforcement officer or custodial
  officer; or
                     (G)  before May 29, 1987, received hazardous duty
  pay based on the terms of any state law if the individual holds a
  position designated under that law as eligible for the pay.
         SECTION 4.  Section 661.918(a), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  This section applies to a peace officer under Article
  2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, who is commissioned as a law
  enforcement officer or agent, including a ranger, by:
               (1)  the Public Safety Commission and the director of
  the Department of Public Safety;
               (2)  the Parks and Wildlife Commission; [or]
               (3)  the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; or
               (4)  the attorney general.
         SECTION 5.  Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife
  Code, is amended by adding Section 11.0183 to read as follows:
         Sec. 11.0183.  DONATION OF ACCRUED COMPENSATORY TIME OR
  ACCRUED ANNUAL LEAVE FOR LEGISLATIVE PURPOSES.  (a)  The director
  shall allow a peace officer employed by the department to
  voluntarily transfer to a legislative leave pool up to eight hours
  of compensatory time or annual leave per year earned by the peace
  officer.
         (b)  The director or the director's designee shall
  administer the legislative leave pool.
         (c)  The commission shall adopt rules and prescribe
  procedures relating to the operation of the legislative leave pool.
         (d)  The director or the director's designee shall credit the
  legislative leave pool with the amount of time contributed by a
  peace officer and deduct a corresponding amount of time from the
  peace officer's earned compensatory time or annual leave as if the
  peace officer had used the time for personal purposes.
         (e)  A peace officer is entitled to use time contributed to
  the legislative leave pool if the peace officer uses the time for
  legislative leave on behalf of a law enforcement association of at
  least 350 active or retired members governed by a board of
  directors.
         (f)  The director or the director's designee shall transfer
  time from the pool to the peace officer and credit the time to the
  peace officer.
         (g)  A peace officer may only withdraw time from the
  legislative leave pool in coordination with and with the consent of
  the president or designee of the law enforcement association
  described in Subsection (e).  A peace officer may not draw more than
  80 hours from the pool in a 160-hour work cycle and may not draw more
  than 480 hours from the pool in a fiscal year.
         (h)  A peace officer shall use time from the legislative
  leave pool in accordance with rules adopted by the commission.
         SECTION 6.  (a)  The classification officer in the office of
  the state auditor shall classify the position of commissioned peace
  officer employed as an investigator by the Office of the Attorney
  General as a Schedule C position under the Texas Position
  Classification Plan, 1961.
         (b)  The change made by the classification officer as
  required by this section applies beginning in the state fiscal
  biennium beginning September 1, 2015.
         (c)  This section expires September 1, 2017.
         SECTION 7.  Section 661.918(a), Government Code, as amended
  by this Act, applies only to an injury that occurs on or after the
  effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
 
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