|
Starting the 8th week of the 79th Legislature, nothing thus far has been introduced that would directly impact on the Houston Police Officers Pension System. There have been some pieces of legislation, such as a Meet and Confer for cities over a population of 50,000, that if amended could possibly create a problem. Rumor around the capitol is that Houston would have difficulty in finding an author, at their request, to file such legislation. There has been one bill filed by Representative Martha Wong to make some changes in the Municipal Pension System. We will continue to watch that one to see if it moves forward, and if so to continue to monitor so that no amendments are put on it to open it to the HPOPS pension law.
In regards to our efforts to update the retired officer’s weapons carrying law and make it compliment the federal law, we have a bill filed in the Senate. Senate Bill #578 was filed by Senator Todd Staples, one of our great friends in the Senate, and it has been assigned to the Criminal Justice Committee, which is chaired by Senator John Whitmire, another great friend of ours. We consulted with the staff committee person, Lawrence Holoman, who advised that this bill would probably be placed on the agenda sometime after March 15th. We have a good committee in Criminal Justice, since we have some other friends on the committee, namely Senators Tommy Williams, Rodney Ellis and Steve Ogden. We look forward to a speedy hearing.
|
