Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB190 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R436 JSC-D
2	2	By: González of El Paso H.B. No. 190
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay
8	8	wages or convicted of certain criminal offenses involving wage
9	9	theft.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is
12	12	amended by adding Section 301.0705 to read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 301.0705. DATABASE REGARDING WAGE THEFT. (a) In this
14	14	section:
15	15	(1) "Attorney representing the state" means a district
16	16	attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney
17	17	performing the duties of a district attorney.
18	18	(2) "Employee" and "employer" have the meanings
19	19	assigned by Section 61.001.
20	20	(b) The commission shall make available on its Internet
21	21	website a publicly accessible list of all employers in this state
22	22	that have been:
23	23	(1) assessed an administrative penalty under Section
24	24	61.053;
25	25	(2) ordered to pay wages by a final order of the
26	26	commission and have failed to comply with Section 61.063; or
27	27	(3) convicted of an offense under:
28	28	(A) Section 61.019; or
29	29	(B) Section 31.04, Penal Code, if the offense
30	30	involved the theft of a service that was rendered by an employee of
31	31	the employer.
32	32	(c) For an employer that is a business entity, the database
33	33	must include the name under which the entity operates and the name
34	34	of each individual who is an owner of the entity and actively
35	35	involved in the management of the entity.
36	36	(d) The commission must provide notice to an employer not
37	37	later than the 180th day before the date the employer is listed in
38	38	the database.
39	39	(e) The commission by rule shall establish a process by
40	40	which an employer may, at any time after receiving notice under
41	41	Subsection (d), dispute the employer's initial inclusion or
42	42	continued inclusion in the database, as applicable. The process
43	43	must require the commission to investigate and make a final
44	44	determination regarding an employer dispute under this subsection
45	45	not later than the 21st day after the date the dispute is filed.
46	46	(f) In a dispute regarding an employer's continued
47	47	inclusion in the database under Subsection (e), the commission
48	48	shall consider any material changes to the employer's management or
49	49	ownership following the incident for which the employer was
50	50	initially included in the database.
51	51	(g) The commission shall list an employer in the database
52	52	until the third anniversary of the date the penalty is assessed or
53	53	the employer is convicted, unless the employer is removed from the
54	54	database as a result of the commission's determination following a
55	55	dispute under Subsection (e).
56	56	(h) An attorney representing the state shall report to the
57	57	commission the name of each employer that is prosecuted and
58	58	convicted in the attorney's jurisdiction of an offense described by
59	59	Subsection (b)(3).
60	60	(i) For purposes of this section, a person has been
61	61	convicted of an offense if the person was adjudged guilty of the
62	62	offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for
63	63	a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision, regardless
64	64	of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether
65	65	the sentence was probated and the person was subsequently
66	66	discharged from community supervision.
67	67	(j) This section does not impose any additional requirement
68	68	on a contractor performing work under a contract that is subject to:
69	69	(1) Chapter 2258, Government Code; or
70	70	(2) the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. Section 3141 et
71	71	seq.) or another federal law that makes the Davis-Bacon Act
72	72	applicable to the contract.
73	73	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
74	74	to an employer:
75	75	(1) for whom an administrative penalty is assessed on
76	76	or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the
77	77	conduct giving rise to the penalty occurred before, on, or after
78	78	that date;
79	79	(2) who is subject to a final order of the Texas
80	80	Workforce Commission entered on or after the effective date of this
81	81	Act, regardless of whether the conduct giving rise to the order
82	82	occurred before, on, or after that date; or
83	83	(3) for whom a judgment of conviction is entered, or
84	84	who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision, on or
85	85	after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the
86	86	offense for which the employer was convicted, or for which the
87	87	employer was placed on deferred adjudication community
88	88	supervision, was committed before, on, or after that date.
89	89	SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2021, the Texas
90	90	Workforce Commission shall establish the database required by
91	91	Section 301.0705, Labor Code, as added by this Act.
92	92	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.