HBA-SEB C.S.H.B. 1999 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1999
By: Telford
Pensions and Investments
4/26/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Community corrections and supervision departments (departments) supervise
and rehabilitate offenders who are placed on community supervision by court
orders.  Employees of departments are employees of the judicial district
they serve.  Currently, a department is required to contract for employees'
insurance and retirement plans with the most populous county served by the
department. Since the Y2000 census may cause a shift in the population
counts of some counties, some departments may find insurance and retirement
plans disrupted or diminished if another county becomes the most populous.
C.S.H.B. 1999 requires a department to contract for all employee benefits
with one county, rather than the most populous county, served by the
department.    

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 76.006, Government Code, by amending Subsection
(a) and adding Subsection (h), as follows: 

(a)  Requires a community supervision and corrections department
(department) to contract for all employee benefits, rather than insurance
and retirement plans, with one county served by the department and
designated for that purpose by the district judge or judges. 

(h)  Prohibits the district judge or judges from changing the designation
of the county providing employee benefits before the 10th anniversary of
the date on which the previous designation was made.   

SECTION 2.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The substitute modifies the original in the caption to make a conforming
change with respect to SECTION 1.   

The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 by amending Section
76.006(a), Government Code, to require a department to contract for all
employee benefits with one county served by the department.  The original
would have required a department to contract for insurance and retirement
plans with a county served by the department.   

The substitute further modifies the original in SECTION 1 by adding Section
76.006(h) to prohibit the district judge or judges from changing the
designation of the county providing employee benefits before the 10th
anniversary of the date on which the previous designation was made.