HBA-CMT H.B. 2777 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2777 By: Talton Urban Affairs 4/22/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, large police departments with their own training facilities offer required continuing education every year for their officers. The curriculum developed by the Texas Commission for Law Enforcement Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) only requires that officers be trained up to 40 hours every other year. As a result, larger police departments are training officers at a more advanced level, and for those departments the curriculum developed by TCLEOSE has become redundant. House Bill 2777 authorizes police departments in municipalities with a population of 500,000 or more to develop their own continuing education classes to serve their training needs. 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 2777 amends the Occupations Code to provide that a specific continuing education requirement prescribed by the provisions for continuing education and yearly weapons proficiency or adopted by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education does not apply to a municipal agency that appoints or employs peace officers in a municipality with a population of 500,000 or more, except as provided in this bill. Provisions requiring continuing education and continued demonstration of weapons proficiency apply to a peace officer appointed or employed by the municipal agency. The bill requires the municipal agency to ensure that a continuing education program approved by the municipal agency is available for its peace officers, and that peace officers appointed or employed by the agency comply with continuing education requirements. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.