By: Creighton S.B. No. 2127
(In the Senate - Filed March 7, 2019; March 21, 2019, read
first time and referred to Committee on Veteran Affairs & Border
Security; April 11, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 3;
April 11, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2127 By: Campbell
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a border volunteer training program for peace officers
employed by local law enforcement agencies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 411.02096 to read as follows:
Sec. 411.02096. BORDER VOLUNTEER TRAINING PROGRAM;
COMMISSION. (a) The department, in coordination with local law
enforcement agencies, shall establish and administer a border
volunteer training program for peace officers employed by local law
enforcement agencies that will prepare the officers to:
(1) collaborate and cooperate with and assist any law
enforcement agency in the interdiction, investigation, and
prosecution of criminal activity in the Texas-Mexico border region;
and
(2) collaborate and cooperate with and assist district
attorneys, county attorneys, the border prosecution unit, and other
prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of allegations of
criminal activity in the Texas-Mexico border region.
(b) The training program under Subsection (a) must include:
(1) information on criminal activity occurring along
the Texas-Mexico border, including drug trafficking and
trafficking of persons and other activity carried out by cartels,
transnational gangs, and other groups engaged in organized criminal
activity;
(2) best practices for investigating and prosecuting
the criminal activity described by Subdivision (1) and securing the
Texas-Mexico border; and
(3) an overview of the department's operations at the
Texas-Mexico border, including any collaboration with the United
States Customs and Border Protection.
(c) If a peace officer described by Subsection (a)
successfully completes the training program under this section and
volunteers to assist the department and the United States Customs
and Border Protection with securing the Texas-Mexico border, the
department may:
(1) commission the officer as an officer of the
department; and
(2) deploy the officer to assist the department and,
as applicable, the United States Customs and Border Protection, in
securing the Texas-Mexico border.
(d) A commission under Subsection (c) expires as determined
by the department. The department is not required to comply with
Section 1701.303, Occupations Code, with respect to a peace officer
commissioned under Subsection (c).
(e) A volunteer peace officer deployed by the department
under Subsection (c) is not entitled to compensation for the
assistance provided.
SECTION 2. Subchapter H, Chapter 1701, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 1701.359 to read as follows:
Sec. 1701.359. BORDER VOLUNTEER TRAINING PROGRAM. The
commission may:
(1) recognize, or with the consent of the Department
of Public Safety administer, the border volunteer training program
established under Section 411.02096, Government Code, as a
continuing education program for officers; and
(2) credit an officer who successfully completes the
program described by Subdivision (1) with the appropriate number of
continuing education hours.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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