Bill Text: TX HB3596 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to compensation received by state employees working in certain high injury risk positions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-18 - Referred to State Affairs [HB3596 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB3596-Introduced.html

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86R1574 JG-F
By: Rose H.B. No. 3596

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to compensation received by state employees working in
certain high injury risk positions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 57.48(k)(1), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(1) "Compensation" means base salary or wages,
longevity pay, high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay, benefit
replacement pay, or an emolument provided in lieu of base salary or
wages.
SECTION 2. Section 403.055(l)(1), Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(1) "Compensation" means base salary or wages,
longevity pay, high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay, benefit
replacement pay, or an emolument provided in lieu of base salary or
wages.
SECTION 3. Section 659.044(e), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) This subsection applies only to an employee of the Texas
Juvenile Justice Department who is receiving less than the maximum
amount of high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay that the department
may pay to the employee under Section 659.303. The employee's
monthly amount of longevity pay is the sum of:
(1) $4 for each year of lifetime service credit, which
may not include any period served in a high injury risk [hazardous
duty] position; and
(2) the lesser of:
(A) $4 for each year served in a high injury risk
[hazardous duty] position; or
(B) the difference between:
(i) $7 for each year served in a high injury
risk [hazardous duty] position; and
(ii) the amount paid by the department for
each year served in a high injury risk [hazardous duty] position.
SECTION 4. Section 659.046(f), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(f) The amount of an employee's lifetime service credit does
not include the period served in a high injury risk [hazardous duty]
position if the employee is:
(1) entitled to receive high injury risk [hazardous
duty] pay under Section 659.302; or
(2) receiving the maximum amount of high injury risk
[hazardous duty] pay that the Texas Juvenile Justice Department may
pay to the employee under Section 659.303.
SECTION 5. Section 659.124(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) In this section, "compensation" means annualized base
salary or wages, including longevity and high injury risk
[hazardous duty] pay.
SECTION 6. The heading to Subchapter L, Chapter 659,
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER L. HIGH INJURY RISK [HAZARDOUS DUTY] PAY
SECTION 7. Sections 659.301(2) and (5), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(2) "High injury risk [Hazardous duty] position" means
a position in the service of this state that:
(A) renders any individual holding that position
a state employee; or
(B) requires the performance of a high injury
risk [hazardous] duty.
(5) "State employee" means an individual who:
(A) is a commissioned law enforcement officer of
the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Facilities Commission,
the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, or the attorney general;
(B) is a commissioned security officer of the
comptroller;
(C) is a law enforcement officer commissioned by
the Parks and Wildlife Commission;
(D) is a commissioned peace officer of an
institution of higher education;
(E) is an employee or official of the Board of
Pardons and Paroles or the parole division of the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice if the employee or official has routine direct
contact with inmates of any penal or correctional institution or
with administratively released prisoners subject to the board's
jurisdiction;
(F) has been certified to the Employees
Retirement System of Texas under Section 815.505 as having begun
employment as a law enforcement officer or custodial officer,
unless the individual has been certified to the system as having
ceased employment as a law enforcement officer or custodial
officer; [or]
(G) before May 29, 1987, received high injury
risk [hazardous duty] pay based on the terms of any state law if the
individual holds a position designated under that law as eligible
for the pay; or
(H) is an employee of a state supported living
center as defined by Section 531.002, Health and Safety Code, or a
state hospital if the employee is in direct contact with patients
for more than 50 percent of the employee's time working in the
facility.
SECTION 8. The heading to Section 659.302, Government Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 659.302. ENTITLEMENT TO RECEIVE HIGH INJURY RISK
[HAZARDOUS DUTY] PAY.
SECTION 9. Section 659.302(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) High injury risk [Hazardous duty] pay is included in the
compensation paid to an individual for services rendered during a
month if the individual:
(1) is a state employee for any portion of the first
workday of the month; and
(2) has completed at least 12 months of lifetime
service credit not later than the last day of the preceding month.
SECTION 10. Sections 659.303(a) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The department may include high injury risk [hazardous
duty] pay in the compensation paid to an individual for services
rendered during a month if the individual:
(1) has routine direct contact with youth:
(A) placed in a residential facility of the
department; or
(B) released under the department's supervision;
and
(2) has completed at least 12 months of lifetime
service credit not later than the last day of the preceding month.
(d) The department may not pay high injury risk [hazardous
duty] pay:
(1) from funds authorized for payment of an
across-the-board employee salary increase; or
(2) to an employee who works at the department's
central office.
SECTION 11. Section 659.304, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 659.304. INELIGIBILITY TO RECEIVE HIGH INJURY RISK
[HAZARDOUS DUTY] PAY. High injury risk [Hazardous duty] pay may be
paid only to an individual who is:
(1) entitled to receive the pay under Section 659.302;
or
(2) eligible to receive the pay under Section 659.303.
SECTION 12. The heading to Section 659.305, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 659.305. AMOUNT OF HIGH INJURY RISK [HAZARDOUS DUTY]
PAY.
SECTION 13. Sections 659.305(a), (b), (f), and (h),
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsections (b) and (h), the
amount of a full-time state employee's high injury risk [hazardous
duty] pay for a particular month is $10 for each 12-month period of
lifetime service credit accrued by the employee.
(b) This subsection applies only to a state employee whose
compensation for services provided to the state during any month
before August 1987 included high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay
that was based on total state service performed before May 29, 1987.
The amount of a full-time state employee's high injury risk
[hazardous duty] pay for a particular month is the sum of:
(1) $10 for each 12-month period of state service
credit the employee finished accruing before May 29, 1987; and
(2) $10 for each 12-month period of lifetime service
credit that the employee accrued after the date, which must be
before May 29, 1987, on which the employee finished accruing the
last 12-month period of state service credit.
(f) The amount of a part-time state employee's high injury
risk [hazardous duty] pay is proportional to the amount of a
full-time state employee's pay under Subsection (a), (b), or (h).
(h) The amount of high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay for
a particular month for a full-time correctional officer employed by
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is the lesser of:
(1) $12 for each 12-month period of lifetime service
credit accrued by the employee; or
(2) $300.
SECTION 14. Section 659.306, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 659.306. RESPONSIBILITY FOR PAYING HIGH INJURY RISK
[HAZARDOUS DUTY] PAY. The state agency that employs an individual
at the beginning of the first workday of a month must pay any high
injury risk [hazardous duty] pay that is included in the
compensation paid to the individual for services rendered during
that month. If the individual transfers to a second state agency
during that month, the first agency remains responsible for paying
the full amount of high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay for that
month.
SECTION 15. Section 659.307, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 659.307. SERVICE CREDIT. (a) The amount of an
individual's lifetime service credit equals the number of months
the individual has served in a high injury risk [hazardous duty]
position during the individual's lifetime.
(b) The amount of an individual's state service credit
equals the sum of:
(1) the amount of the individual's lifetime service
credit, as determined under Subsection (a); and
(2) the number of months during the individual's
lifetime that the individual has provided services to the state in a
position that is not a high injury risk [hazardous duty] position.
SECTION 16. Section 661.034(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) Under this section, rate of compensation:
(1) includes an emolument in lieu of base pay for which
the state employee was eligible on the last day of employment; and
(2) does not include longevity or high injury risk
[hazardous duty] pay.
SECTION 17. Section 661.063(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) Under this section, rate of compensation:
(1) includes an emolument in lieu of base pay for which
the state employee was eligible; and
(2) does not include longevity or high injury risk
[hazardous duty] pay.
SECTION 18. Section 661.067(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A state employee who remains on the payroll of a state
agency under this section:
(1) is entitled to continue to receive all
compensation and benefits that the state employee was receiving on
the employee's last day of duty, including paid holidays, longevity
pay, and high injury risk [hazardous duty] pay;
(2) is entitled to a general salary increase for state
employees that takes effect before the employee's accrued vacation
time is exhausted; and
(3) may not use sick leave or accrue sick leave or
vacation time.
SECTION 19. Section 666.001(1), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(1) "Compensation" includes:
(A) base salary or wages;
(B) longevity or high injury risk [hazardous
duty] pay;
(C) benefit replacement pay;
(D) a payment for the balance of vacation and
sick leave under Subchapter B, Chapter 661;
(E) a payment for the accrued balance of vacation
time under Subchapter C, Chapter 661; and
(F) an emolument provided in lieu of base salary
or wages.
SECTION 20. Section 811.001(7), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(7) "Compensation" means the base salary of a person;
amounts that would otherwise qualify as compensation but are not
received directly by a person pursuant to a good faith, voluntary,
written salary reduction agreement in order to finance payments to
a deferred compensation or tax sheltered annuity program
specifically authorized by state law or to finance benefit options
under a cafeteria plan qualifying under Section 125 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 125); longevity and high
injury risk [hazardous duty] pay; nonmonetary compensation, the
value of which is determined by the retirement system; amounts by
which a person's salary is reduced under a salary reduction
agreement authorized by Chapter 610; and the benefit replacement
pay a person earns under Subchapter H, Chapter 659, [as added by
Chapter 417, Acts of the 74th Legislature, 1995,] except for the
benefit replacement pay a person earns as a result of a payment made
under Subchapter B, C, or D, Chapter 661. The term excludes
overtime pay and a cleaning or clothing allowance.
SECTION 21. Section 814.203(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) For the purposes of this section, "comparable pay" means
80 percent or more of the member's final state employment base pay
before deductions for taxes or deferred compensation under state
and federal law, including any longevity or high injury risk
[hazardous duty] pay, but excluding the monetary value of any
insurance or retirement benefits. Comparable pay may be adjusted
by the retirement system to account for adjustments in state pay
rates.
SECTION 22. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.