H.B. No. 2924 AN ACT relating to military leave time accounts for police and fire departments. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 143.075, Local Government Code, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 143.075. MILITARY LEAVE TIME ACCOUNTS. (a) A municipality shall maintain military leave time accounts for the fire and police departments and must maintain a separate military leave time account for each department. (b) A military leave time account shall benefit a fire fighter or police officer who: (1) is a member of the Texas National Guard or the armed forces reserves of the United States; (2) was called to active federal military duty while serving as a fire fighter or police officer for the municipality; and (3) has served on active duty for a period of 3 [12] continuous months or longer[; and [(4) has exhausted the balance of the person's vacation, holiday, and compensatory leave time accumulations]. (c) A fire fighter or police officer may donate any amount of accumulated vacation, holiday, sick, or compensatory leave time to the military leave time account in that fire fighter's or police officer's department to help provide salary continuation for fire fighters or police officers who qualify as eligible beneficiaries of the account under Subsection (b). A fire fighter or police officer who wishes to donate time to an account under this section must authorize the donation in writing on a form provided by the fire or police department and approved by the municipality. (d) A municipality shall equally distribute the leave time donated to a military leave time account among all fire fighters or police officers who are eligible beneficiaries of that account. The municipality shall credit and debit the applicable military leave time account on an hourly basis regardless of the cash value of the time donated or used. SECTION 2. 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, 2013. ______________________________ ______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House I certify that H.B. No. 2924 was passed by the House on May 8, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House I certify that H.B. No. 2924 was passed by the Senate on May 22, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. ______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: _____________________ Date _____________________ Governor