By: Dominguez	H.B. No. 101

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to a one-time payment for certain state-employed essential
	workers; making an appropriation.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS. In this Act:
	(1)  "Comptroller" means the state comptroller of
	public accounts.
	(2)  "Eligible essential state employee" means an
	individual who:
	(A)  is a state employee; and
	(B)  was, during any part of the qualifying
	period, an eligible worker.
	(3)  "Eligible worker" means a state employee who was
	designated under 42 U.S.C. Section 802 as an essential critical
	infrastructure worker.
	(4)  "Qualifying period" means the period beginning at
	12:01 a.m. on March 13, 2020, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on September
	13, 2021.
	(5)  "State agency" means a department, commission,
	board, office, or other agency in the executive branch of state
	government that is created by the constitution or a statute of this
	state.
	(6)  "State employee" means an employee of a state
	agency.
	SECTION 2.  ESSENTIAL WORKER PAYMENT; AMOUNT. (a) An
	eligible essential state employee is entitled to an essential
	worker payment.
	(b)  The amount of the essential worker payment to which an
	eligible essential state employee is entitled is equal to the
	lesser of:
	(1)  the product of:
	(A)  $2.00; and
	(B)  the number of hours the eligible essential
	state employee worked for the state during the qualifying period
	while designated an eligible worker; or
	(2)  $8,000.
	(c)  An essential worker payment is in addition to any other
	salary or wage to which eligible essential state employees are
	entitled under the terms of their employment.
	SECTION 3.  DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY. The comptroller,
	in consultation with the Legislative Budget Board and the State
	Auditor's Office, shall by rule establish the process to be used to:
	(1)  determine which state employees are eligible
	essential state employees;
	(2)  determine the amount of the essential worker
	payment to which each eligible essential state employee is
	entitled; and
	(3)  distribute money to state agencies to make
	essential worker payments to eligible essential state employees
	employed by the agencies.
	SECTION 4.  APPROPRIATION; USE OF APPROPRIATED MONEY. (a)
	Notwithstanding Chapter 1053 (S.B. 1), Acts of the 87th
	Legislature, Regular Session, 2021 (the General Appropriations
	Act), or any other law, the amount necessary to provide an essential
	worker payment to each eligible essential state employee under
	Section 2 of this Act is appropriated from federal money provided to
	this state from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery
	Funds under Section 9901 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
	(Pub. L. No. 117-2) to the comptroller for the two-year period
	beginning on the effective date of this Act for distribution to
	state agencies on the basis of the number of eligible essential
	state employees employed by each state agency on September 1, 2021.
	The comptroller shall distribute the money appropriated by this
	section as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act.
	(b)  A state agency may use money distributed under
	Subsection (a) of this section only to provide essential worker
	payments to eligible essential state employees employed by the
	agency in accordance with Section 2 of this Act.
	SECTION 5.  EXPIRATION. This Act expires February 1, 2024.
	SECTION 6.  EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect
	immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members
	elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas
	Constitution.  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
	immediate effect, this Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
	last day of the legislative session.