BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 473 |
By: Moody |
Homeland Security & Public Safety |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Concerns have been raised that cities and counties have too great an ability to discharge, terminate, or indefinitely suspend injured public safety employees. C.S.H.B. 473 seeks to address these concerns by prohibiting a governmental entity from discharging, indefinitely suspending, or terminating certain peace officers, firefighters, detention officers, or county jailors based on their inability to perform job duties due to work-related injuries before the employees are certified as having reached maximum medical improvement.
|
||||||||
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
|
||||||||
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
C.S.H.B. 473 makes such an employer who violates that prohibition liable for reasonable damages incurred by the peace officer, detention officer, county jailer, or firefighter in an amount capped at $100,000 as a result of the violation and entitles a peace officer, detention officer, county jailer, or firefighter discharged, indefinitely suspended, or terminated from employment in violation of the prohibition to reinstatement in the former position of employment. The bill places the burden of proof in a related proceeding on the peace officer, detention officer, county jailer, or firefighter. The bill waives and abolishes sovereign immunity to suit and from liability to the extent of liability created by the bill's provisions and authorizes a current or former peace officer, detention officer, county jailer, or firefighter to sue an employer for damages and reinstatement.
C.S.H.B. 473 exempts from its provisions an employer that is a municipality that has adopted the firefighters' and police officers' civil service law.
|
||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
|
||||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 473 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||
|