HBA-CMT, JEK H.B. 1510 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1510 By: Yarbrough Urban Affairs 3/5/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Local Government Code establishes certain civil service requirements for fire fighters and police officers in cities with a population of 1.5 million or more which have adopted the provisions for municipal civil service. Currently, the City of Houston is the only city affected by these provisions. House Bill 1510 requires the fire department to provide a fire fighter with relevant documents not later than 48 hours before the time of a disciplinary meeting, and entitles the fire fighter to have two representatives at the meeting. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 1510 amends the Local Government Code to require that a fire fighter who is provided notice of a meeting or hearing related to an internal departmental or other municipal investigation or responding to charges prior to termination of employment is entitled, on request, to all documents related to the internal departmental or other municipal investigation of the fire fighter. The bill requires such documents to be provided to the fire fighter not later than the 48th hour before the hour on which the meeting or hearing is held. H.B. 1510 entitles a fire fighter who is the subject of a such a meeting or hearing to have two representatives at the meeting. The bill entitles the representatives to be present to advise the fire fighter and to present any evidence or information for the fire fighter. The bill provides that the representatives are not required to be attorneys and prohibits the representatives from being prevented from fully participating in the meeting. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.