The 86th Legislative Session was in my mind a big success and we owe it to the firefighters that have decided to get involved over the past few sessions. The governor, speaker and lieutenant governor had three goals for the session: budget, property tax reform and school finance reform. They passed all of those and we doubt there will be a special session. The governor was able to extend the state plumbing board using executive action related to disaster recovery. This took away any reason to meet before next session.

There are multiple bills that passed that will affect firefighters, but let’s first go over the things that did not happen:

Dues Deduction – We defeated multiple attempts to pass amendments related to dues deduction. We were able to prevent these amendments from ever being able to go up for a vote. This issue faded somewhat this session due to the NFIB focusing on other issues, namely preventing cities from mandating sick leave on private businesses.

Pensions – Another issue that faded somewhat this session. Nobody had the appetite to file major pension reform legislation after the insanity of the 85th Session. Some of the players have moved on, but better returns and internal reforms has made become less of an issue.

Assaults on Civil Service, Collective Bargaining and Meet & Confer – While nothing passed this session, we believe there will be a renewed push to limit our labor abilities and rights. The Texas Public Policy Foundation has made attempts to limit business leave, and we assume they will make limits on the ability of firefighters to lobby and act politically.

A bill that did pass, SB 2 might have future consequences for firefighters. SB 2 is a bill that was designed to limit the amount of property tax a political subdivision could collect year-over-year by making receipts higher than 3.5 percent from the previous year subject to an election. There were exemptions such as new property. This would probably put the figure around 4 or 5 percent. They also may not reduce the compensation paid to a fire fighter. Cities are going to use this as a crutch in negotiations and do not want to give up the pet projects that got us to this bill. There have already been a couple of instances where cities have slowed contract negotiations claiming they did not understand SB 2. They absolutely understand it and are now worried that the projects and programs they had before that were cleared with nothing more than a vote of the budget, are now up for further scrutiny. Any limitation in city revenue can be a problem and if the cities had agreed to a 6 percent cap last session, they would not be in the current situation they are in. Our best strategy is to make sure our employers focus on the priorities of the community such as, public safety, roads and waste removal. If they get outside of these priorities, we need to identify and track it.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=SB2

Here are some of the measures that passed that we worked hard on and will have long-term benefits for firefighters.

SB 2551 – Burrows  / Hinojosa – This bill was filed by our very good friends, Rep. Burrows and Sen. Hinojosa and was our signature piece of legislation and took a long, winding route. We believe this will provide a huge step towards total workers compensation reform. It also should make the Presumptive Act usable. This bill will reform and rebuild workers compensation. It also ensures legal fees will be paid by the department if you are successful.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=SB2551

HB 1 – This is the budget bill and Rep. Oscar Longoria was able to attach a section that devoted $2 million for professional fire departments in proximity to the Mexican border. Resources are being used to assist border operations but are not being reimbursed or funded by the state or federal government. Fire departments may start applying for these grants in September. This is a work in progress and so far a two-session project. We expect to return for more money next session.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB1

HB 3635 – Turner – This bill indexes line of duty death benefits to inflation. For many years we have had to pass a bill to increase the benefit, most recently in 2015 to $500,000. This bill will ensure that we never have to do that again. Surprisingly, it takes a lot of effort and time, that we do not have to pass those bills. This is a big bill for the families of our members that are killed in the line of duty.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB3635

HB 2143 – Turner – This bill goes one step further to ensuring the maximum coverage under workers compensation for PTSD. Last Session we passed HB 1983 and had to bargain away a few items to ensure passage. HB 2143 takes the final steps.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB2143

HB 766 – Huberty – This bill would give permanently disabled firefighters from on duty injuries or illnesses, up to 12 semesters of free tuition from public universities. This is for undergraduate programs only.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB766

While there was a change in leadership on the House side from Joe Straus to Dennis Bonnen as speaker, this session ended up passing the same percentage of bills as last session. We will definitely be revamping our political giving to reflect the changes that have occurred. We look for your input and contacts to better our position for next session.