85R19915 JCG-D
By: King of Uvalde, Raney, Guillen H.B. No. 3015
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to vacation leave time accounts for firefighter employee
organizations.
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 142.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 142.015. VACATION LEAVE TIME ACCOUNT FOR FIREFIGHTERS.
(a) A municipality shall establish and maintain a vacation leave
time account for each firefighter employee organization.
(b) A firefighter who is a member of an employee
organization may donate any amount of accumulated vacation time to
the vacation leave time account of the employee organization to
which the firefighter belongs.
(c) A firefighter who wishes to donate vacation time to the
account established under this section must authorize the donation
in writing on a form provided by the employee organization and
approved by the municipality.
(d) Only a firefighter who is a member of an employee
organization may use the vacation time donated to the account of the
employee organization. A firefighter may use the vacation time
donated under this section without receiving a reduction in salary
and without reimbursing the municipality.
(e) A request to use the vacation time in an employee
organization's vacation leave time account must be:
(1) in writing; and
(2) submitted to the municipality:
(A) by the president or the equivalent officer of
the employee organization or by that officer's designee; and
(B) at least three days before the date for which
the vacation time is requested.
(f) Before vacation time in an employee organization's
vacation leave time account may be used by a firefighter, the fire
chief, or the fire chief's designee, must approve the request to use
the vacation time. The fire chief or the fire chief's designee
shall approve a timely request unless the operational needs of the
fire department justify that the request be denied.
(g) The municipality shall account for the vacation time
donated to each vacation leave time account and used from each
account. The municipality shall credit and debit the applicable
vacation leave time account on an hour-for-hour basis regardless of
the cash value of the vacation time donated or used.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.