SB1321

The injury-leave change applies only to injuries occurring on or after September 1, 2025. Under the existing provision, qualifying duty-related injury leave preserves salary without requiring use of accrued compensatory or other leave. It excludes injuries to which the officer’s gross negligence contributed and injuries related to routine office duties. The officer must provide evidence of a medical examination and a Texas physician’s recommendation for a specific leave period; the maximum is one year for injuries occurring at one time. Final law, sections 2 and 5; Existing injury-leave conditions.

That provision permits workers’ compensation medical benefits during injury leave, but not disability-retirement benefits during the same leave period. Workers’ compensation indemnity benefits accrue under the referenced law after injury leave ends or is exhausted. SB1321 extends the existing framework rather than creating unrestricted paid leave for any illness or promising simultaneous payment of every benefit. Benefit coordination, subsection (e); Final law.

All five substantive versions match, from introduction through enrollment. The official amendment index lists no separate amendments. The change is the addition of TCOLE to the specified pay and leave provisions and its Schedule C classification, not a general expansion of the agency’s investigative powers. Introduced bill; Senate committee text; Senate-passed text; House committee text; Text-version index; Amendment index; Final law.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Eligible TCOLE officers gain the specified compensation treatment and access to injury leave; the agency and state budget bear associated costs. The bill itself does not set every officer’s salary, guarantee a particular percentage raise or add new positions. Its fiscal estimate is based on the agency’s then-current staffing, not a promise about future headcount or actual payroll. Final law; Fiscal note.

The March 24 fiscal note estimates a $674,020 cost to General Revenue-related funds for fiscal years 2026–2027, or $337,010 in each year. Its five-year table repeats $337,010 annually through fiscal year 2030. The methodology covers 25 full-time-equivalent positions: 18 investigators moving to the Sergeant/C4 equivalent ($177,510 a year in added cost), one to Lieutenant/C5 ($5,600), four supervisors to Captain/C6 ($118,400), and two directors to Major/C8 ($35,500). Those amounts are the estimated group cost differences, not salaries paid to each person. Fiscal estimate and methodology.

The note anticipates no significant local-government fiscal impact. It says the bill makes no appropriation but could provide a legal basis for funding to implement it. The listed salary-classification estimate is not proof of a particular final budget appropriation or a separate quantified forecast of future injury-leave use. Fiscal note; Final law.