Legislative Update

May 22, 2009

DPSOA Legislative Update:

13th Check Clarification

As often happens in the closing days of the legislative session, deals are hammered out in the wee hours, and often the details are not clearly laid out.  After additional meetings with legislative aides today, the DPSOA legislative consultants have a clarification regarding the 13th check for retirees that I previously reported to our Members.

If the Attorney General deems the 13th check for retirees paid for by Federal stimulus money to be illegal under Texas law, the stimulus money will go to the ERS Fund as an increase in the state contribution rate.  Therefore, if deemed unlawful, there will be no 13th check for retirees this year.  It also means that active state employees will not be required to contribute to fund a 13th check.

If the AG approves the use of Federal stimulus money for the 13th check, those checks for up to $500.00 will be sent out to retirees by December 1, 2009.

As with all legislation, its not over until it is passed by both houses and signed by the governor. It is reported that Sen. Ogden says that the Conferees will pass the budget (SB1) on Tuesday.

All of our retirees owe a big thank you to those DPS retirees who came to Austin on May 6th to lobby for this 13th check.  Although the turnout was low, this group had an impact on the Conference Committee decision makers.  I can't help but think that a group several times that large might have pushed the amount of the check a little higher.  Thank you to the following DPS retirees for their good work:

Wendell Miller
Emil Soderquist
Dennis Riggins
Robert Zamorano
Henry Brune
Reymundo Guerrero
Alex Bartee

Brian Hawthorne
DPSOA President

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May 19, 2009

Pay Raise For Schedule C Commissioned Officers On The Way!

Good news came as the Conference Committee adopted Senate Bill 1 which included a significant pay raise for Schedule C employees.  The package, totaling $24.4 million for the biennium, came about despite two weeks of dire forecasts of a $1 billion projected shortfall in the general revenue budget (due to Medicaid shortfalls) and warnings that all pending legislative spending was on the block. Although the salary package is roughly half of what we were striving for, this is a significant increase for our Schedule C members, particularly considering the reality of todays strained economic environment. The bill still needs to be voted on by the full legislature, but that should be routine since it is an agreed upon bill.  

The linked Senate version of the Schedule C salary package details the increase. 

There are only 13 more days left in the 81st Legislative Session, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  DPSOA will continue to work on bills important to our Membership and push for additional compensation and benefits.  While I dont have anything specific to report, DPSOA also continues to work for our retirees issues and for our non-commissioned members issues.

Brian Hawthorne
President, DPSOA

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Senate Finance Committee

Senator Steve Ogden, Chairman

Thursday, February 19, 2009, 8:30 A.M.

Capitol Extension, E1.036

SB1 Article V – Public Safety and Criminal Justice

Brian Hawthorne, President of the DPS Officer Association, and Gary Chandler, DPSOA Vice President and Legislative Committee Chairman, testified before the Senate Finance Committee. Chairman Ogden, Vice Chair Juan Hinojosa, Sen. Tommy Williams, Sen. John Whitmire, and Sen. Kevin Eltife were present for the testimony. Sen. Chris Harris, Sen. Jane Nelson, and Sen. Kel Seliger all came and went during the meeting.

Sgt. Hawthorne stated that he was representing the DPS Officers Association, which has over 3700 Troopers, Texas Rangers, Communications and Forensic Scientist specialists as Members. DPSOA has a Board of Directors which is elected by the Membership.

He thanked the State Auditor, John Keel, for the third party independent study comparing the top 7 metropolitan law enforcement agencies’ compensation averages with those of DPS. Sgt. Hawthorne testified that he is concerned that the low compensation averages for DPS relative to the top seven Municipal forces is having a negative impact on our recruiting effort. He pointed out that his District was in the middle of the Hurricane Ike, and while working the storm, he didn’t see officers from other municipalities participating in the response.

Sgt. Hawthorne introduced Sgt. Gary Chandler to review some of the numbers listed in the report provided to the Committee for review.

Sgt. Chandler pointed out that the DPS compensation for 20 year Trooper or Equivalent is approximately $7,095 below the state average. The gap goes up to $10,824 for 20 year Sergeant, and $13,732 for 20 year Lieutenant compensation.

Sgt. Hawthorne continued his testimon stating that during Hurricane Ike, extremely critical decisions affecting thousands of Texas citizens had to be made by a District DPS Captain who is paid on average $11,207 below the average university 20 yr. Captain’s compensation. These disparities are making it very difficult recruit and retain quality applicants.

The Senators on the Committee seemed to be in full agreement with the comments, and committed to helping DPS bring its overall compensation up, not only to the state average, but to the highest paid law enforcement agency in the state. The Senators also asked if the request for 4 50 additional Black and Whites will be adequate to get a car for every Trooper. Sen. Whitmire also questioned why the cars are not equipped with a cage, to isolate dangerous criminals from the arresting officer.

Sen. Whitmire stated that it is obvious that the DPS has overwhelming support of this committee and most of the Senate, and he repeated the comment that he made at the DPSOA Conference that the DPS needs to adopt the slogan: “Less love, more money”.

Recorded Testimony (Requires Real Player)

DPS Officers Association President Brian Hawthorne and Vice-President/Legislative Committee Chairman Gary Chandler testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, February 19, 2009. DPSOA testimony begins at the 2hr. 30min. mark, and is available at:

Testimony Before Senate Finance Committee