Bill Text: TX HB48 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Engrossed


Bill Title: Relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay wages or convicted of certain offenses involving wage theft.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2019-04-17 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [HB48 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB48-Engrossed.html
 
 
  By: González of El Paso, Leach, Romero, Jr., H.B. No. 48
      Metcalf
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay
  wages or convicted of certain offenses involving wage theft.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is
  amended by adding Section 301.0705 to read as follows:
         Sec. 301.0705.  DATABASE REGARDING WAGE THEFT. (a) In this
  section:
               (1)  "Attorney representing the state" means a district
  attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney
  performing the duties of a district attorney.
               (2)  "Employee" and "employer" have the meanings
  assigned by Section 61.001.
         (b)  The commission shall make available on its Internet
  website a publicly accessible list of all employers in this state
  that have been:
               (1)  assessed an administrative penalty under Section
  61.053;
               (2)  ordered to pay wages by a final order of the
  commission and have failed to comply with Section 61.063; or
               (3)  convicted of an offense under:
                     (A)  Section 61.019; or
                     (B)  Section 31.04, Penal Code, if the offense
  involved the theft of a service that was rendered by an employee of
  the employer.
         (c)  For an employer that is a business entity, the database
  must include the name under which the entity operates and the name
  of each individual who is an owner of the entity and actively
  involved in the management of the entity.
         (d)  The commission must provide notice to an employer not
  later than the 180th day before the date the employer is listed in
  the database.
         (e)  The commission by rule shall establish a process by
  which an employer may, at any time after
  receiving notice under
  Subsection (d), dispute the employer's initial inclusion or
  continued inclusion in the database, as applicable.  The process
  must require the commission to investigate and make a final
  determination regarding an employer dispute under this subsection
  not later than the 21st day after the date the dispute is filed.
         (f)  In a dispute regarding an employer's continued
  inclusion in the database under Subsection (e), the commission
  shall consider any material changes to the employer's management or
  ownership following the incident for which the employer was
  initially included in the database.
         (g)  The commission shall list an employer in the database
  until the third anniversary of the date the penalty is assessed or
  the employer is convicted, unless the employer is removed from the
  database as a result of the commission's determination following a
  dispute under Subsection (e).
         (h)  An attorney representing the state shall report to the
  commission the name of each employer that is prosecuted and
  convicted in the attorney's jurisdiction of an offense described by
  Subsection (b)(3).
         (i)  For purposes of this section, a person has been
  convicted of an offense if the person was adjudged guilty of the
  offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for
  a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision, regardless
  of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether
  the sentence was probated and the person was subsequently
  discharged from community supervision.
         (j)  This section does not impose any additional requirement
  on a contractor performing work under a contract that is subject to:
               (1)  Chapter 2258, Government Code; or 
               (2)  the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. Section 3141 et
  seq.) or another federal law that makes the Davis-Bacon Act
  applicable to the contract.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to an employer:
               (1)  for whom an administrative penalty is assessed on
  or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the
  conduct giving rise to the penalty occurred before, on, or after
  that date;
               (2)  who is subject to a final order of the Texas
  Workforce Commission entered on or after the effective date of this
  Act, regardless of whether the conduct giving rise to the order
  occurred before, on, or after that date; or
               (3)  for whom a judgment of conviction is entered, or
  who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision, on or
  after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the
  offense for which the employer was convicted, or for which the
  employer was placed on deferred adjudication community
  supervision, was committed before, on, or after that date.
         SECTION 3.  Not later than December 1, 2019, the Texas
  Workforce Commission shall establish the database required by
  Section 301.0705, Labor Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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