HBA-MSH H.B. 3073 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3073 By: Chisum County Affairs 4/1/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, the qualified voters of a county with a population of more than 25,000 may petition the commissioners court of the county to increase the minimum salary of each member of the sheriff's department. Currently, there is no limit on the amount of a proposed pay increase or on the effective date of any proposed increase. If such an issue brings about an election and passes, counties may be forced to pay large increases with little advance warning. House Bill 3073 prohibits these proposed pay increases for members of a sheriff's department from exceeding 10 percent of a current salary and from taking effect until the next fiscal year. 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 3073 amends the Local Government Code to prohibit a petition by qualified voters in certain counties to increase the pay of each member of a sheriff's department from proposing an increase of greater than 10 percent of the current salary. The bill also prohibits the effective date of the proposed salary increase from being earlier than the first day of the next county fiscal year. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.