Texas 2025 - 89th Regular

Texas House Bill HB669 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	89R1005 RDS-D
2	2	By: González of El Paso H.B. No. 669
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7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay
10	10	wages or convicted of certain criminal offenses involving wage
11	11	theft.
12	12	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	13	SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is
14	14	amended by adding Section 301.0705 to read as follows:
15	15	Sec. 301.0705. DATABASE REGARDING WAGE THEFT. (a) In this
16	16	section:
17	17	(1) "Attorney representing the state" means a district
18	18	attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney
19	19	performing the duties of a district attorney.
20	20	(2) "Employee" and "employer" have the meanings
21	21	assigned by Section 61.001.
22	22	(b) The commission shall make available on its Internet
23	23	website a publicly accessible list of all employers in this state
24	24	that have been:
25	25	(1) assessed an administrative penalty under Section
26	26	61.053;
27	27	(2) ordered to pay wages by a final order of the
28	28	commission and have failed to comply with Section 61.063; or
29	29	(3) convicted of an offense under:
30	30	(A) Section 61.019; or
31	31	(B) Section 31.04, Penal Code, if the offense
32	32	involved the theft of a service that was rendered by an employee of
33	33	the employer.
34	34	(c) For an employer that is a business entity, the database
35	35	must include the name under which the entity operates and the name
36	36	of each individual who is an owner of the entity and actively
37	37	involved in the management of the entity.
38	38	(d) The commission must provide notice to an employer not
39	39	later than the 180th day before the date the employer is listed in
40	40	the database.
41	41	(e) The commission by rule shall establish a process by
42	42	which an employer may, at any time after receiving notice under
43	43	Subsection (d), dispute the employer's initial inclusion or
44	44	continued inclusion in the database, as applicable. The process
45	45	must require the commission to investigate and make a final
46	46	determination regarding an employer dispute under this subsection
47	47	not later than the 21st day after the date the dispute is filed.
48	48	(f) In a dispute regarding an employer's continued
49	49	inclusion in the database under Subsection (e), the commission
50	50	shall consider any material changes to the employer's management or
51	51	ownership following the incident for which the employer was
52	52	initially included in the database.
53	53	(g) The commission shall list an employer in the database
54	54	until the third anniversary of the date the penalty is assessed or
55	55	the employer is convicted, unless the employer is removed from the
56	56	database as a result of the commission's determination following a
57	57	dispute under Subsection (e).
58	58	(h) An attorney representing the state shall report to the
59	59	commission the name of each employer that is prosecuted and
60	60	convicted in the attorney's jurisdiction of an offense described by
61	61	Subsection (b)(3).
62	62	(i) For purposes of this section, a person has been
63	63	convicted of an offense if the person was adjudged guilty of the
64	64	offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for
65	65	a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision, regardless
66	66	of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether
67	67	the sentence was probated and the person was subsequently
68	68	discharged from community supervision.
69	69	(j) This section does not impose any additional requirement
70	70	on a contractor performing work under a contract that is subject to:
71	71	(1) Chapter 2258, Government Code; or
72	72	(2) the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. Section 3141 et
73	73	seq.) or another federal law that makes the Davis-Bacon Act
74	74	applicable to the contract.
75	75	SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
76	76	to an employer:
77	77	(1) for whom an administrative penalty is assessed on
78	78	or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the
79	79	conduct giving rise to the penalty occurred before, on, or after
80	80	that date;
81	81	(2) who is subject to a final order of the Texas
82	82	Workforce Commission entered on or after the effective date of this
83	83	Act, regardless of whether the conduct giving rise to the order
84	84	occurred before, on, or after that date; or
85	85	(3) for whom a judgment of conviction is entered, or
86	86	who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision, on or
87	87	after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the
88	88	offense for which the employer was convicted, or for which the
89	89	employer was placed on deferred adjudication community
90	90	supervision, was committed before, on, or after that date.
91	91	SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, the Texas
92	92	Workforce Commission shall establish the database required by
93	93	Section 301.0705, Labor Code, as added by this Act.
94	94	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.