85R5159 CJC-D
By: Turner H.B. No. 578
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain leave policies for state employees.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 661.902(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The administrative head of an agency may determine that
a reason other than a reason [that] described by Subsection (a) is
sufficient for granting emergency leave. Subject to the provisions
of this subsection, the administrative head [and] shall grant an
emergency leave to an employee if the employee requests the leave
and [who] the administrative head determines that the employee has
shown good cause for taking emergency leave. The administrative
head may not grant an emergency leave to an employee under this
subsection unless the administrative head believes in good faith
that the employee being granted the emergency leave intends to
return to the employee's position with the agency on expiration of
the period of emergency leave.
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 661, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 661.923 to read as follows:
Sec. 661.923. LEAVE DURING AGENCY INVESTIGATION. (a) The
administrative head of an agency may grant leave without a
deduction in salary to a state employee who is the subject of an
investigation being conducted by the agency.
(b) A state employee who is the subject of an investigation
being conducted by the employing agency is ineligible to receive
leave for that reason under any other provision of this subchapter.
SECTION 3. Section 661.902(b), Government Code, as amended
by this Act, and Section 661.923, Government Code, as added by this
Act, apply only to a grant of leave made on or after the effective
date of this Act. A grant of leave made before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date that leave was
granted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.