Bill Text: TX SB162 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced

Texas Senate Bill 162 (Prior Session Legislation)

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: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-02-01 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [SB162 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB162-Introduced.html

	86R127 JSC-D

	By: Rodríguez	S.B. No. 162



	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	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 inclusion in the database.
	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) 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.
	(g) 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).
	(h) 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.
	(i) 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. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
	only to an administrative penalty assessed on or after the
	effective date of this Act. An administrative penalty assessed
	before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
	effect on the date the penalty was assessed, and the former law is
	continued in effect for that purpose.
	(b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
	criminal proceeding that commences on or after the effective date
	of this Act. A criminal proceeding that commences before the
	effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
	date the proceeding commenced, and the former law is continued in
	effect for that purpose.
	(c) The change in law made by this Act applies only to a
	final order of the Texas Workforce Commission entered on or after
	the effective date of this Act. A final order entered before the
	effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
	date the order was entered, and the former law is continued in
	effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2019, 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, 2019.