BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1828

By: Orr

Corrections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that, while state troopers and game wardens in Texas are currently allowed to voluntarily transfer up to eight hours of personal leave per year to a pool for use for legislative purposes, correctional officers employed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) could also benefit from having this opportunity available to them. H.B. 1828 seeks to address this issue by requiring the TDCJ executive director to allow a TDCJ correctional officer to voluntarily transfer to a legislative leave pool up to eight hours of compensatory time or annual leave per year earned by the correctional officer and entitling a TDCJ correctional officer to use time contributed to the leave pool if the time is used for legislative leave.

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 rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 1828 amends the Government Code to require the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to allow a TDCJ correctional officer to voluntarily transfer to a legislative leave pool up to eight hours of compensatory time or annual leave per year earned by the officer. The bill requires the executive director or the executive director's designee to administer the legislative leave pool and to credit the leave pool with the amount of time contributed by such a correctional officer and deduct a corresponding amount of time from the officer's earned compensatory time or annual leave as if the officer had used the time for personal purposes. The bill requires the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ) to adopt rules and prescribe procedures relating to the operation of the leave pool.

H.B. 1828 entitles a TDCJ correctional officer to use time contributed to the leave pool if the time is used for legislative leave on behalf of an association that meets the following criteria:

· is related to the correctional officer's employment with TDCJ;

· has at least 5,000 active or retired members; and

· is governed by a board of directors.

The bill requires the TDCJ executive director or their designee to transfer time from the leave pool to the officer and credit the time to the officer. The bill requires a TDCJ correctional officer's withdrawal of time from the leave pool to be in coordination with and with the consent of the president or designee of the association and caps the amount of time that may be drawn from the pool by a correctional officer as follows:

· 80 hours in a 160-hour work cycle; and

· 480 hours in a fiscal year.

The bill requires a correctional officer to use time from the leave pool in accordance with TBCJ rules.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.