By: Anchia (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 1057
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 27, 2011;
May 2, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
Intergovernmental Relations; May 13, 2011, reported adversely,
with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5,
Nays 0; May 13, 2011, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1057 By: West
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to business leave time for certain municipal firefighters
and police officers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 142, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 142.014 to read as follows:
Sec. 142.014. BUSINESS LEAVE TIME ACCOUNT FOR FIREFIGHTERS
IN CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES. (a) This section applies only to
firefighters employed by a municipality with a population of one
million or more that has not adopted Chapter 174 and to which
Chapter 143 does not apply.
(b) In this section:
(1) "Business leave" means leave taken for the purpose
of attending to the business of an employee organization.
(2) "Employee organization" includes:
(A) the Dallas Fire Fighters Association;
(B) the Dallas Black Fire Fighters Association;
and
(C) the Dallas Hispanic Firefighters
Association.
(c) If the constitution and bylaws of an employee
organization authorize the employee organization to participate in
the establishment and maintenance of a business leave time account
as provided by this section, a firefighter who is a member of an
employee organization may donate not more than one hour of
accumulated vacation or compensatory time for each calendar quarter
to the business leave time account of the employee organization to
which the firefighter belongs. The municipality shall establish
and maintain a separate business leave time account for each
employee organization that has approved or ratified the use of
business leave time by its members under this section and has a
specific provision in the constitution and bylaws of that employee
organization.
(d) Only a firefighter who is a member of an employee
organization may use for business leave purposes the time donated
to the account of the employee organization. A firefighter may use
for business leave purposes the time donated under this section
without receiving a reduction in salary and without reimbursing the
municipality.
(e) A request to use for business leave purposes the time in
an employee organization's time account must be in writing and be
submitted to the municipality by the president or the equivalent
officer of the employee organization or by that officer's designee.
(f) The municipality shall grant a request for business
leave that complies with Subsection (e) unless:
(1) denial of the request is necessary because of an
emergency; or
(2) a grant of the request will result in having an
insufficient number of firefighters to carry out the normal
functions of the municipality.
(g) The municipality shall account for the time donated to
each account and used from each account. The municipality shall
credit and debit an account on an hour-for-hour basis regardless of
the cash value of the time donated or used.
(h) An employee organization may not use for business leave
purposes more than 4,000 hours from its business leave time account
under this section in a calendar year unless the municipality
approves the use of hours in excess of 4,000. This subsection does
not prevent an employee organization from accumulating more than
4,000 hours, but only addresses the total number of donated hours
that an employee organization may use in any calendar year.
(i) The use of business leave by a firefighter under this
section is not a break in service for any purpose and is treated as
any other paid leave.
SECTION 2. Sections 142.013(b) and (c), Local Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(b) In this section:
(1) "Business leave" means leave taken for the purpose
of attending to the business of an employee organization.
(2) "Employee organization" includes:
(A) the Texas Peace Officers Association;
(B) the Dallas Police Association;
(C) the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police; [and]
(D) the Latino Peace Officers Association; and
(E) the Black Police Association of Greater
Dallas.
(c) If the constitution and bylaws of an employee
organization authorize the employee organization to participate in
the establishment and maintenance of a business leave time account
as provided by this section, a [A] police officer may donate not
more than two hours for each month of accumulated vacation or
compensatory time to the business leave time account of the [an]
employee organization. The municipality shall establish and
maintain a business leave time account for each employee
organization.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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