BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2001

By: Leach

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that state employees who are certified disaster service volunteers of the American Red Cross or who are in training to become a member of the American Red Cross are granted leave without deduction in salary or loss of vacation time, sick leave, earned overtime credit, or state compensatory time during the event of a disaster to serve as a volunteer. Noting that American Red Cross volunteers are only a fraction of the disaster volunteers providing valuable services to communities across Texas, H.B. 2001 seeks to provide that leave to each state employee who is a volunteer of an organization that is a member of the Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.

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

H.B. 2001 amends the Government Code to authorize a state employee who is a volunteer of an organization that is a member of the Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster to be granted leave to participate in disaster relief services without a deduction in salary or loss of vacation time, sick leave, earned overtime credit, or state compensatory time if the leave is taken with the authorization of the employee's supervisor and the governor has declared a state of disaster under the Texas Disaster Act of 1975. The bill caps the amount of leave that may be granted to a state employee for those purposes in a fiscal year at 10 days.

H.B. 2001 repeals Section 661.907, Government Code, which provides leave under specified circumstances for a state employee who is a certified disaster service volunteer of the American Red Cross or who is in training to become such a volunteer.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.