Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3421 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Slaton H.B. No. 3421
2	2
3	3
4	4	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
5	5	AN ACT
6	6	relating to the provision of law enforcement services in certain
7	7	municipalities by the Department of Public Safety.
8	8	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
9	9	SECTION 1. Chapter 411, Government Code, is amended by
10	10	adding Subchapter S to read as follows:
11	11	SUBCHAPTER S. LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES IN CERTAIN MUNICIPALITIES
12	12	Sec. 411.541. APPLICABILITY. This subchapter applies only
13	13	to a municipality:
14	14	(1) with a population of 950,000 or more;
15	15	(2) with a ratio of less than two sworn police officers
16	16	per 1,000 residents; and
17	17	(3) for which the governor has issued a written
18	18	determination under Section 411.542.
19	19	Sec. 411.542. DETERMINATION OF PUBLIC SAFETY THREAT DUE TO
20	20	INSUFFICIENT FUNDING. If the governor determines that the safety
21	21	of a municipality's residents is threatened because the
22	22	municipality is providing insufficient municipal resources for
23	23	public safety, the governor may issue a determination to that
24	24	effect.
25	25	Sec. 411.543. PROVISION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES BY
26	26	DEPARTMENT. The department shall provide law enforcement services
27	27	in a municipality to which this subchapter applies. The
28	28	municipality shall reimburse the department the cost of providing
29	29	the law enforcement services.
30	30	Sec. 411.544. CONTRACT REQUIRED. (a) Not later than the
31	31	first day of a municipality's fiscal year following a determination
32	32	by the governor under Section 411.542, the municipality shall enter
33	33	into a contract with the department governing the provision of law
34	34	enforcement services in the municipality on terms determined solely
35	35	by the director.
36	36	(b) The contract required by Subsection (a) must:
37	37	(1) provide for the transfer from the municipality to
38	38	the department of all personnel, property, and liabilities that
39	39	relate to the municipality's provision of law enforcement services,
40	40	including all employees, equipment, facilities, contracts, and
41	41	other assets;
42	42	(2) require that the personnel and property described
43	43	by Subdivision (1):
44	44	(A) be organized as a unique division within the
45	45	department as required by Section 411.546; and
46	46	(B) benefit the residents of the municipality
47	47	through the department's provision of law enforcement services to
48	48	the residents of the municipality; and
49	49	(3) subject to later modification by the commission or
50	50	the director, require the department to administer the division as
51	51	similarly in manner as practicable to the manner in which the
52	52	municipality's law enforcement agency was administered immediately
53	53	before the transfer, including operating the division in accordance
54	54	with:
55	55	(A) internal policies and procedures of the
56	56	municipal law enforcement agency that applied immediately before
57	57	the transfer;
58	58	(B) positions, wages, leave, and other terms of
59	59	employment that applied immediately before the transfer; and
60	60	(C) if applicable, civil service laws such as
61	61	Chapter 143, Local Government Code, as those laws applied
62	62	immediately before the transfer.
63	63	(c) The legislature finds that a contract for law
64	64	enforcement services under this subchapter serves a public purpose
65	65	of the contracting municipality.
66	66	Sec. 411.545. CONTINUATION OF CERTAIN CIVIL SERVICE LAWS.
67	67	(a) If civil service laws, such as Chapter 143, Local Government
68	68	Code, applied immediately before the transfer to any employee
69	69	subject to the transfer:
70	70	(1) the commission:
71	71	(A) shall adopt rules that:
72	72	(i) are substantially equivalent to the
73	73	civil service laws; and
74	74	(ii) apply only to the employees to whom the
75	75	civil service laws applied immediately before the transfer; and
76	76	(B) may modify the rules described by Paragraph
77	77	(A); and
78	78	(2) the department shall establish a civil service
79	79	commission for a division created under Section 411.546 and the
80	80	director shall appoint initial members to that commission not later
81	81	than the 60th day after the effective date of the contract
82	82	transferring the employees.
83	83	(b) To the extent of any conflict, a rule adopted under this
84	84	section prevails over another law governing the terms of employment
85	85	for an employee of the department, including laws governing wages,
86	86	salary, hours, leave, position classification, promotion, and
87	87	discipline.
88	88	Sec. 411.546. SEPARATE DIVISION OF DEPARTMENT. (a) The
89	89	department shall create a separate division within the department
90	90	to provide law enforcement services to each municipality to which
91	91	this subchapter applies.
92	92	(b) The former chief administrative officer of the
93	93	transferred law enforcement agency becomes the chief
94	94	administrative officer of the division created under this section,
95	95	subject to the control of the director.
96	96	Sec. 411.547. TRANSFER OF CERTAIN RETIREMENT SYSTEMS. (a)
97	97	If before the transfer the sworn police officers of a municipality
98	98	transferred to the department under this subchapter were by law
99	99	members of a retirement system that applied primarily to the sworn
100	100	police officers and not any other employees of the municipality, on
101	101	the transfer:
102	102	(1) notwithstanding Subtitle B, Title 8, the
103	103	employment of the officers is not a position with a department,
104	104	commission, board, agency, or institution of the state for purposes
105	105	of that subtitle;
106	106	(2) the commission and the board of trustees of the
107	107	retirement system shall enter into a memorandum of understanding
108	108	regarding each entity's responsibilities for the continued
109	109	administration of the system in the same manner, to the extent
110	110	feasible, as the system was administered by the board and the
111	111	municipality;
112	112	(3) the department shall assume the duties and
113	113	liabilities of the municipality under the law establishing the
114	114	retirement system and, unless context requires otherwise, a
115	115	reference in that law to:
116	116	(A) the municipality as a legal entity means the
117	117	department;
118	118	(B) the governing body of the municipality means
119	119	the commission;
120	120	(C) any other official or employee of the
121	121	municipality means an official or employee of the department with
122	122	substantially equivalent qualifications, as jointly determined in
123	123	the memorandum of understanding adopted under Subdivision (2); and
124	124	(D) the police department of the municipality
125	125	means the division created under Section 411.546;
126	126	(4) the commission and the board of trustees of the
127	127	retirement system shall jointly adopt any rules necessary to
128	128	implement the assumption of duties and liabilities described by
129	129	Subdivision (3), and the commission and the board may liberally
130	130	construe a law described by Subdivision (3) in adopting the rules
131	131	for the purpose of ensuring the continued administration of the
132	132	retirement system;
133	133	(5) the commission shall enter into a memorandum of
134	134	understanding with the comptroller and any other state agency the
135	135	commission determines necessary for:
136	136	(A) the continued administration of a retirement
137	137	system transferred under this section; and
138	138	(B) the administration of benefits for an
139	139	employee whose change in employment status results in changing
140	140	membership between a retirement system transferred under this
141	141	section and another retirement system;
142	142	(6) an agency designated by the commission under
143	143	Subdivision (5) shall provide the assistance necessary to ensure
144	144	the continued administration of a retirement system as described by
145	145	Subdivision (5)(A) and the transition of employees between
146	146	retirement systems as described by Subdivision (5)(B); and
147	147	(7) the term of a member of the board of trustees of a
148	148	retirement system transferred under this section who is a member of
149	149	the board by reason of the member's status as an official or
150	150	employee of the municipality, other than sworn police officer,
151	151	expires the date the contract required by this subchapter is
152	152	effective, and the commission shall appoint members to those
153	153	vacancies who are officials or employees of the department and
154	154	whose qualifications are substantially similar to the members whose
155	155	terms expired under this subdivision.
156	156	(b) An employee transferred under this subchapter who is not
157	157	covered by Subsection (a) holds a position with a department,
158	158	commission, board, agency, or institution of the state for purposes
159	159	of Subtitle B, Title 8.
160	160	Sec. 411.548. TRUST FUND FOR REIMBURSEMENT PAYMENTS. (a)
161	161	The department shall deposit money received as reimbursement for
162	162	providing law enforcement services in a municipality in a trust
163	163	fund held outside the treasury by the comptroller and administered
164	164	by the commission.
165	165	(b) The department may spend money in the fund without
166	166	appropriation. Interest and income from the assets of the fund
167	167	shall be credited to and deposited in the fund.
168	168	Sec. 411.549. PROVISION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES BY
169	169	MUNICIPALITY PROHIBITED. A municipality may not provide law
170	170	enforcement services after contracting for law enforcement
171	171	services with the department under Section 411.544.
172	172	SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act may not be
173	173	construed to impair an obligation under a contract entered into
174	174	before the effective date of this Act. A political subdivision may
175	175	fulfill the subdivision's obligations under a contract entered into
176	176	before that date but may not extend such a contract beyond the
177	177	contract's original term.
178	178	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.