HBA-BSM H.B. 3226 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3226 By: Keffer State Affairs 3/23/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Peace officers and state custodial officers perform duties that can endanger their personal safety. Injuries sustained in the line of duty may lead to a long recovery period before an officer is ready to perform the officer's duties again. Under current law, injured officers are only able to use sick leave or compensatory time if they are injured in the line of duty, which may not cover the entire rehabilitation and recovery period. House Bill 3226 allows these officers to use up to one year of injury leave for injuries sustained in the performance of duties without receiving a reduction in pay. 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 3226 amends the Government Code to entitle a person appointed or employed as a peace officer by a state agency, a custodial officer of the Board of Pardons and Paroles or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or an investigatory employee of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services to injury leave without a deduction in salary and without being required to use compensatory time off or any other type of leave for an injury that occurs during the course of the person's performance of duty and results directly from a risk or hazard to which the person is exposed because of the nature of the person's duties. H.B. 3226 does not include transportation to and from work as performance of a duty. H.B. 3226 provides that for a person to be eligible for injury leave, a person must submit evidence to their employer of a medical examination and a recommendation for a specified period of leave from a licensed state physician. The bill provides that the maximum amount of leave available is one year. The bill also authorizes a person to be simultaneously on injury leave and receive workers' compensation benefits, but the person is not eligible for disability retirement benefits during this leave period. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.