Bill Text: TX SB892 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the employment of certain peace officers as private security officers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-01 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB892 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB892-Introduced.html

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88R6209 JCG-D
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 892

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the employment of certain peace officers as private
security officers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.212(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) The governing boards of private institutions of higher
education are authorized to hire and pay on a regular basis peace
officers commissioned by a municipality, county, or political
subdivision of this state [an incorporated city]. The officers
shall be under the supervision of the hiring institution, but shall
be subject to dismissal and disciplinary action by the
municipality, county, or political subdivision [city]. A
municipality, county, or political subdivision of this state [An
incorporated city] is authorized to contract with a private
institution of higher education for the use and employment of its
commissioned officers in any manner agreed to, provided that there
is no expense incurred by the municipality, county, or political
subdivision [city].
SECTION 2. Section 85.004(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) A reserve deputy serves at the discretion of the sheriff
and may be called into service if the sheriff considers it necessary
to have additional officers to preserve the peace and enforce the
law. The sheriff may authorize a reserve deputy who is a peace
officer as described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure,
to carry a weapon or act as a peace officer at all times, regardless
of whether the reserve deputy is engaged in the actual discharge of
official duties, or may limit the authority of the reserve deputy to
carry a weapon or act as a peace officer to only those times during
which the reserve deputy is engaged in the actual discharge of
official duties. A reserve deputy who is not a peace officer as
described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, may act as a
peace officer only during the actual discharge of official duties.
A reserve deputy, regardless of whether the reserve deputy is a
peace officer as described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is not[:
[(1)] eligible for participation in any program
provided by the county that is normally considered a financial
benefit of full-time employment or for any pension fund created by
statute for the benefit of full-time paid peace officers[; or
[(2) exempt from Chapter 1702, Occupations Code].
SECTION 3. Section 86.012(b), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) A reserve deputy constable serves at the discretion of
the constable and may be called into service at any time that the
constable considers it necessary to have additional officers to
preserve the peace and enforce the law. The constable may authorize
a reserve deputy constable who is a peace officer as described by
Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, to carry a weapon or act
as a peace officer at all times, regardless of whether the reserve
deputy constable is engaged in the actual discharge of official
duties, or may limit the authority of the reserve deputy constable
to carry a weapon or act as a peace officer to only those times
during which the reserve deputy constable is engaged in the actual
discharge of official duties. A reserve deputy constable who is not
a peace officer as described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, may act as a peace officer only during the actual
discharge of official duties. A reserve deputy constable,
regardless of whether the reserve deputy constable is a peace
officer as described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure,
is not[:
[(1)] eligible for participation in any program
provided by the county that is normally considered a financial
benefit of full-time employment or for any pension fund created by
statute for the benefit of full-time paid peace officers[; or
[(2) exempt from Chapter 1702, Occupations Code].
SECTION 4. Section 341.012(h), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(h) Reserve police officers may act only in a supplementary
capacity to the regular police force and may not assume the
full-time duties of regular police officers without complying with
the requirements for regular police officers. On approval of the
appointment of a member who is a peace officer as described by
Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, the chief of police may
authorize the person appointed to carry a weapon or act as a peace
officer at all times, regardless of whether the person is engaged in
the actual discharge of official duties, or may limit the authority
of the person to carry a weapon or act as a peace officer to only
those times during which the person is engaged in the actual
discharge of official duties. A reserve police officer, regardless
of whether the reserve police officer is a peace officer as
described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is not[:
[(1)] eligible for participation in any program
provided by the governing body that is normally considered a
financial benefit of full-time employment or for any pension fund
created by statute for the benefit of full-time paid peace
officers[; or
[(2) exempt from Chapter 1702, Occupations Code].
SECTION 5. Section 1702.322, Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 1702.322. LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL. This chapter
does not apply to:
(1) a person who is employed [has full-time
employment] as a peace officer for compensation, or who is a peace
officer and has been appointed to serve as a reserve deputy sheriff,
reserve deputy constable, or reserve police officer of a political
subdivision of this state, and who receives compensation for
private employment on an individual or an independent contractor
basis as a patrolman, guard, extra job coordinator, or watchman if
the officer:
(A) is employed in an employee-employer
relationship or employed on an individual contractual basis:
(i) directly by the recipient of the
services; or
(ii) by a company licensed under this
chapter; and
(B) is not in the employ of another peace
officer;
[(C) is not a reserve peace officer; and
[(D) works as a peace officer on the average of at
least 32 hours a week, is compensated by the state or a political
subdivision of the state at least at the minimum wage, and is
entitled to all employee benefits offered to a peace officer by the
state or political subdivision;]
(2) a reserve peace officer while the reserve officer
is performing guard, patrolman, or watchman duties for a county and
is being compensated solely by that county;
(3) a peace officer acting in an official capacity in
responding to a burglar alarm or detection device; or
(4) a person engaged in the business of electronic
monitoring of an individual as a condition of that individual's
community supervision, parole, mandatory supervision, or release
on bail, if the person does not perform any other service that
requires a license under this chapter.
SECTION 6. Section 1702.330, Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 1702.330. SECURITY PERSONNEL OF PRIVATE INSTITUTION OF
HIGHER EDUCATION. This chapter does not apply to:
(1) a person who is employed full-time by and is
commissioned as a campus security personnel employee by a private
institution of higher education under Section 51.212, Education
Code; or
(2) a peace officer commissioned by a [an
incorporated] municipality, county, or political subdivision of
this state who is hired under Section 51.212, Education Code, on a
regular basis by a private institution of higher education while
that peace officer is operating within the scope of the peace
officer's employment with the institution of higher education.
SECTION 7. Section 60.0775(i), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(i) A reserve police officer, regardless of whether the
reserve police officer is a peace officer as described by Article
2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is not[:
[(1)] eligible for participation in:
(1) [(A)] a program provided by the commission that is
normally considered a financial benefit of full-time employment; or
(2) [(B)] a pension fund created by statute for the
benefit of full-time paid peace officers[; or
[(2) exempt from Chapter 1702, Occupations Code].
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.