BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4300

By: Dean

Homeland Security & Public Safety

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that certain smaller law enforcement agencies in Texas have reported difficulty recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers. It has been suggested that this difficulty may be a result of salaries that are not competitive with agencies in larger, more populous areas. C.S.H.B. 4300 seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of peace officer salaries across Texas by requiring the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to produce a report on peace officer salaries that categorizes salaries by agency size and compares those salaries to the cost of living and salaries paid to officers in other states.

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. 4300 amends the Occupations Code to require the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) to submit a report not later than December 1, 2022, regarding peace officer salaries in Texas to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and each standing committee of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over TCOLE. The report must include salary information categorized by law enforcement agency size, based on the population residing in the agency's jurisdiction, and, for each category, a comparison of officer salaries to cost of living and of officer salaries in Texas to officer salaries in other states. The bill requires a law enforcement agency to provide any information requested by TCOLE to prepare the report. The bill's provisions expire January 1, 2023.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4300 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes the reporting requirement from an indefinite, biennial reporting requirement with reports due November 1 of each even-numbered year, as in the original, to a one-time reporting requirement with the report due December 1, 2022. Accordingly, the substitute makes the bill's provisions temporary by including a January 1, 2023, expiration date, which was not included in the original.