By: Geren, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Hinojosa) H.B. No. 2037
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 20, 2015;
May 6, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 21, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 1; May 21, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to compensation and leave for certain peace officers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 5, Alcoholic Beverage
Code, is amended by adding Section 5.21 to read as follows:
Sec. 5.21. DONATION OF ACCRUED COMPENSATORY TIME OR ACCRUED
ANNUAL LEAVE FOR LEGISLATIVE PURPOSES. (a) The administrator
shall allow a peace officer employed by the commission to
voluntarily transfer to a legislative leave pool up to eight hours
of compensatory time or annual leave per year earned by the peace
officer.
(b) The administrator or the administrator's designee shall
administer the legislative leave pool.
(c) The commission shall adopt rules and prescribe
procedures relating to the operation of the legislative leave pool.
(d) The administrator or the administrator's designee shall
credit the legislative leave pool with the amount of time
contributed by a peace officer and deduct a corresponding amount of
time from the peace officer's earned compensatory time or annual
leave as if the peace officer had used the time for personal
purposes.
(e) A peace officer is entitled to use time contributed to
the legislative leave pool if the peace officer uses the time for
legislative leave on behalf of a law enforcement association of at
least 50 active or retired members governed by a board of directors.
(f) The administrator or the administrator's designee shall
transfer time from the pool to the peace officer and credit the time
to the peace officer.
(g) A peace officer may only withdraw time from the
legislative leave pool in coordination with and with the consent of
the president or designee of the law enforcement association
described in Subsection (e). A peace officer may not draw more than
80 hours from the pool in a 160-hour work cycle and may not draw more
than 480 hours from the pool in a fiscal year.
(h) A peace officer shall use time from the legislative
leave pool in accordance with rules adopted by the commission.
SECTION 2. Section 402.009, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 402.009. AUTHORITY TO EMPLOY AND COMMISSION PEACE
OFFICERS. (a) The attorney general may employ and commission peace
officers as investigators for the limited purpose of assisting the
attorney general in carrying out the duties of that office relating
to prosecution assistance and crime prevention.
(b) The attorney general shall ensure that a commissioned
peace officer employed as authorized under Subsection (a) is
compensated according to Schedule C of the position classification
salary schedule prescribed by the General Appropriations Act.
SECTION 3. Section 659.301(5), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(5) "State employee" means an individual who:
(A) is a commissioned law enforcement officer of
the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Facilities Commission,
the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, [or] the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice, or the attorney general;
(B) is a commissioned security officer of the
comptroller;
(C) is a law enforcement officer commissioned by
the Parks and Wildlife Commission;
(D) is a commissioned peace officer of an
institution of higher education;
(E) is an employee or official of the Board of
Pardons and Paroles or the parole division of the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice if the employee or official has routine direct
contact with inmates of any penal or correctional institution or
with administratively released prisoners subject to the board's
jurisdiction;
(F) has been certified to the Employees
Retirement System of Texas under Section 815.505 as having begun
employment as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer,
unless the individual has been certified to the system as having
ceased employment as a law enforcement officer or custodial
officer; or
(G) before May 29, 1987, received hazardous duty
pay based on the terms of any state law if the individual holds a
position designated under that law as eligible for the pay.
SECTION 4. Section 661.918(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) This section applies to a peace officer under Article
2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, who is commissioned as a law
enforcement officer or agent, including a ranger, by:
(1) the Public Safety Commission and the director of
the Department of Public Safety;
(2) the Parks and Wildlife Commission; [or]
(3) the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; or
(4) the attorney general.
SECTION 5. Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife
Code, is amended by adding Section 11.0183 to read as follows:
Sec. 11.0183. DONATION OF ACCRUED COMPENSATORY TIME OR
ACCRUED ANNUAL LEAVE FOR LEGISLATIVE PURPOSES. (a) The director
shall allow a peace officer employed by the department to
voluntarily transfer to a legislative leave pool up to eight hours
of compensatory time or annual leave per year earned by the peace
officer.
(b) The director or the director's designee shall
administer the legislative leave pool.
(c) The commission shall adopt rules and prescribe
procedures relating to the operation of the legislative leave pool.
(d) The director or the director's designee shall credit the
legislative leave pool with the amount of time contributed by a
peace officer and deduct a corresponding amount of time from the
peace officer's earned compensatory time or annual leave as if the
peace officer had used the time for personal purposes.
(e) A peace officer is entitled to use time contributed to
the legislative leave pool if the peace officer uses the time for
legislative leave on behalf of a law enforcement association of at
least 350 active or retired members governed by a board of
directors.
(f) The director or the director's designee shall transfer
time from the pool to the peace officer and credit the time to the
peace officer.
(g) A peace officer may only withdraw time from the
legislative leave pool in coordination with and with the consent of
the president or designee of the law enforcement association
described in Subsection (e). A peace officer may not draw more than
80 hours from the pool in a 160-hour work cycle and may not draw more
than 480 hours from the pool in a fiscal year.
(h) A peace officer shall use time from the legislative
leave pool in accordance with rules adopted by the commission.
SECTION 6. (a) The classification officer in the office of
the state auditor shall classify the position of commissioned peace
officer employed as an investigator by the Office of the Attorney
General as a Schedule C position under the Texas Position
Classification Plan, 1961.
(b) The change made by the classification officer as
required by this section applies beginning in the state fiscal
biennium beginning September 1, 2015.
(c) This section expires September 1, 2017.
SECTION 7. Section 661.918(a), Government Code, as amended
by this Act, applies only to an injury that occurs on or after the
effective date of this Act.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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