By: Turner, Capriglione, Bernal 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, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) 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 and except as provided by Subsection (c), 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.
(c) An employee is not required to request an emergency
leave if the administrative head of the employing agency grants the
emergency leave under Subsection (b) because the agency is closed
due to weather conditions or in observance of a holiday.
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:
(1) the subject of an investigation being conducted by
the agency; or
(2) a victim of, or witness to, an act or event that 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.
(c) Not later than the last day of each quarter of a state
fiscal year, an agency shall submit a report to the state auditor's
office and the Legislative Budget Board that includes the name of
each agency employee described by Subsection (a)(1) who has been
granted 168 hours or more of leave under this section during that
fiscal quarter. The report must include, for each employee, a brief
statement as to the reason the employee remains on leave.
SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 2101, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 2101.042 to read as follows:
Sec. 2101.042. LEAVE REPORTING. (a) As part of the
centralized accounting and payroll system or any successor system
used to implement the enterprise resource planning component of the
uniform statewide accounting project developed under Sections
2101.031, 2101.035, and 2101.036, the comptroller shall adopt a
uniform system for use by each state agency to report leave taken by
the agency's employees. The system adopted by the comptroller must
include standardized accounting codes for each type of leave
authorized under Chapter 661.
(b) Each state agency shall use the uniform system adopted
by the comptroller under this section.
SECTION 4. Section 661.902, 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.