Bill Text: TX HB669 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay wages or convicted of certain criminal offenses involving wage theft.
Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-04-01 - Left pending in subcommittee [HB669 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HB669-Introduced.html
| 89R1005 RDS-D | ||
| By: González of El Paso | H.B. No. 669 | |
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| relating to a database of employers penalized for failure to pay | ||
| wages or convicted of certain criminal offenses involving wage | ||
| theft. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 301.0705 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 301.0705. DATABASE REGARDING WAGE THEFT. (a) In this | ||
| section: | ||
| (1) "Attorney representing the state" means a district | ||
| attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney | ||
| performing the duties of a district attorney. | ||
| (2) "Employee" and "employer" have the meanings | ||
| assigned by Section 61.001. | ||
| (b) The commission shall make available on its Internet | ||
| website a publicly accessible list of all employers in this state | ||
| that have been: | ||
| (1) assessed an administrative penalty under Section | ||
| 61.053; | ||
| (2) ordered to pay wages by a final order of the | ||
| commission and have failed to comply with Section 61.063; or | ||
| (3) convicted of an offense under: | ||
| (A) Section 61.019; or | ||
| (B) Section 31.04, Penal Code, if the offense | ||
| involved the theft of a service that was rendered by an employee of | ||
| the employer. | ||
| (c) For an employer that is a business entity, the database | ||
| must include the name under which the entity operates and the name | ||
| of each individual who is an owner of the entity and actively | ||
| involved in the management of the entity. | ||
| (d) The commission must provide notice to an employer not | ||
| later than the 180th day before the date the employer is listed in | ||
| the database. | ||
| (e) The commission by rule shall establish a process by | ||
| which an employer may, at any time after receiving notice under | ||
| Subsection (d), dispute the employer's initial inclusion or | ||
| continued inclusion in the database, as applicable. The process | ||
| must require the commission to investigate and make a final | ||
| determination regarding an employer dispute under this subsection | ||
| not later than the 21st day after the date the dispute is filed. | ||
| (f) In a dispute regarding an employer's continued | ||
| inclusion in the database under Subsection (e), the commission | ||
| shall consider any material changes to the employer's management or | ||
| ownership following the incident for which the employer was | ||
| initially included in the database. | ||
| (g) The commission shall list an employer in the database | ||
| until the third anniversary of the date the penalty is assessed or | ||
| the employer is convicted, unless the employer is removed from the | ||
| database as a result of the commission's determination following a | ||
| dispute under Subsection (e). | ||
| (h) An attorney representing the state shall report to the | ||
| commission the name of each employer that is prosecuted and | ||
| convicted in the attorney's jurisdiction of an offense described by | ||
| Subsection (b)(3). | ||
| (i) For purposes of this section, a person has been | ||
| convicted of an offense if the person was adjudged guilty of the | ||
| offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for | ||
| a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision, regardless | ||
| of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether | ||
| the sentence was probated and the person was subsequently | ||
| discharged from community supervision. | ||
| (j) This section does not impose any additional requirement | ||
| on a contractor performing work under a contract that is subject to: | ||
| (1) Chapter 2258, Government Code; or | ||
| (2) the Davis-Bacon Act (40 U.S.C. Section 3141 et | ||
| seq.) or another federal law that makes the Davis-Bacon Act | ||
| applicable to the contract. | ||
| SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
| to an employer: | ||
| (1) for whom an administrative penalty is assessed on | ||
| or after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the | ||
| conduct giving rise to the penalty occurred before, on, or after | ||
| that date; | ||
| (2) who is subject to a final order of the Texas | ||
| Workforce Commission entered on or after the effective date of this | ||
| Act, regardless of whether the conduct giving rise to the order | ||
| occurred before, on, or after that date; or | ||
| (3) for whom a judgment of conviction is entered, or | ||
| who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision, on or | ||
| after the effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the | ||
| offense for which the employer was convicted, or for which the | ||
| employer was placed on deferred adjudication community | ||
| supervision, was committed before, on, or after that date. | ||
| SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, the Texas | ||
| Workforce Commission shall establish the database required by | ||
| Section 301.0705, Labor Code, as added by this Act. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. | ||
