Bill Text: TX HB101 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 3rd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a one-time payment for certain state-employed essential workers; making an appropriation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-09-27 - Referred to Appropriations [HB101 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB101-Introduced.html
By: Dominguez | H.B. No. 101 |
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relating to a one-time payment for certain state-employed essential | ||
workers; making an appropriation. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: | ||
(1) "Comptroller" means the state comptroller of | ||
public accounts. | ||
(2) "Eligible essential state employee" means an | ||
individual who: | ||
(A) is a state employee; and | ||
(B) was, during any part of the qualifying | ||
period, an eligible worker. | ||
(3) "Eligible worker" means a state employee who was | ||
designated under 42 U.S.C. Section 802 as an essential critical | ||
infrastructure worker. | ||
(4) "Qualifying period" means the period beginning at | ||
12:01 a.m. on March 13, 2020, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on September | ||
13, 2021. | ||
(5) "State agency" means a department, commission, | ||
board, office, or other agency in the executive branch of state | ||
government that is created by the constitution or a statute of this | ||
state. | ||
(6) "State employee" means an employee of a state | ||
agency. | ||
SECTION 2. ESSENTIAL WORKER PAYMENT; AMOUNT. (a) An | ||
eligible essential state employee is entitled to an essential | ||
worker payment. | ||
(b) The amount of the essential worker payment to which an | ||
eligible essential state employee is entitled is equal to the | ||
lesser of: | ||
(1) the product of: | ||
(A) $2.00; and | ||
(B) the number of hours the eligible essential | ||
state employee worked for the state during the qualifying period | ||
while designated an eligible worker; or | ||
(2) $8,000. | ||
(c) An essential worker payment is in addition to any other | ||
salary or wage to which eligible essential state employees are | ||
entitled under the terms of their employment. | ||
SECTION 3. DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY. The comptroller, | ||
in consultation with the Legislative Budget Board and the State | ||
Auditor's Office, shall by rule establish the process to be used to: | ||
(1) determine which state employees are eligible | ||
essential state employees; | ||
(2) determine the amount of the essential worker | ||
payment to which each eligible essential state employee is | ||
entitled; and | ||
(3) distribute money to state agencies to make | ||
essential worker payments to eligible essential state employees | ||
employed by the agencies. | ||
SECTION 4. APPROPRIATION; USE OF APPROPRIATED MONEY. (a) | ||
Notwithstanding Chapter 1053 (S.B. 1), Acts of the 87th | ||
Legislature, Regular Session, 2021 (the General Appropriations | ||
Act), or any other law, the amount necessary to provide an essential | ||
worker payment to each eligible essential state employee under | ||
Section 2 of this Act is appropriated from federal money provided to | ||
this state from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery | ||
Funds under Section 9901 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 | ||
(Pub. L. No. 117-2) to the comptroller for the two-year period | ||
beginning on the effective date of this Act for distribution to | ||
state agencies on the basis of the number of eligible essential | ||
state employees employed by each state agency on September 1, 2021. | ||
The comptroller shall distribute the money appropriated by this | ||
section as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act. | ||
(b) A state agency may use money distributed under | ||
Subsection (a) of this section only to provide essential worker | ||
payments to eligible essential state employees employed by the | ||
agency in accordance with Section 2 of this Act. | ||
SECTION 5. EXPIRATION. This Act expires February 1, 2024. | ||
SECTION 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect | ||
immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members | ||
elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas | ||
Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for | ||
immediate effect, this Act takes effect on the 91st day after the | ||
last day of the legislative session. |