BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2115

By: Ashby

Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The 88th Legislature enacted legislation creating the rural sheriff's office and rural constable's office salary assistance grant programs for the purpose of providing financial assistance to qualified sheriff's offices and constable's offices to support the state purpose of ensuring professional law enforcement throughout Texas. However, the bill author has informed the committee that there have been some difficulties with respect to administering the funds awarded under these grant programs and that county judges have reported that the programs' mandatory reporting requirements are overburdensome and should be the responsibility of a county auditor or other appropriate county officer. The bill author has also informed the committee that rural areas are currently facing a pressing shortage of emergency dispatchers in sheriff's offices, which can present numerous operational challenges for rural sheriff's offices when responding to emergencies within their jurisdictions. C.S.H.B. 2115 seeks to address these two issues by requiring that the procedures for monitoring the disbursement of grant money under these grant programs to ensure compliance include a requirement for the county auditor or other appropriate county officer to report to the comptroller's office on compliance and by requiring counties awarded a grant under the rural sheriff's office salary assistance grant program who use grant money for certain minimum annual salaries to use the grant money to provide a minimum annual salary to telecommunicators.

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. 2115 amends the Local Government Code to require a county, with respect to the use of a grant awarded under the rural sheriff's office salary assistance grant program for providing certain minimum annual salaries, to use or authorize the use of the grant money to provide a minimum annual salary of at least $40,000 for each telecommunicator, as defined by Occupations Code provisions regulating law enforcement officers, employed by the county sheriff. This requirement applies only to the award of a grant to an applicable county under the grant program during a fiscal year of the county that begins on or after the bill's effective date.

C.S.H.B. 2115 requires that the procedures established by the rules adopted by the comptroller of public accounts for monitoring the disbursement of grant money under the rural sheriff's office and rural constable's office salary assistance grant programs to ensure compliance with the applicable program include a requirement that the county auditor or other appropriate county officer report to the comptroller's office on the applicable disbursement and compliance.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2115 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute omits the provision from the introduced that lowered the amount of the contribution to which an applicable county must agree to make to meet the minimum annual salary requirement established by current law for a qualified constable in order to be able to use grant money under the rural constable's office salary assistance grant program for that salary from at least 75 percent of such money to at least 25 percent of such money. Additionally, the substitute omits the provision from the introduced that required the procedures established by the comptroller's rules for monitoring the disbursement of grant money under the rural prosecutor's office salary assistance grant program to include a requirement that the county auditor or other appropriate county officer report to the comptroller's office on the applicable disbursement and compliance.