Relating to a paid leave of absence for public employees serving as fire protection personnel who are engaged in certain military service.

Contracts

• Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs): Review all Meet and Confer or Collective Bargaining Agreements immediately. Any clause defining a "day" of military leave as 8 hours for fire personnel is now null and void under state law. You must apply the statutory minimum (1 shift = 1 day) regardless of existing contract language.
• Employee Handbooks: Update Military Leave sections to distinguish between "Standard Staff" (standard hourly conversion) and "Fire Protection Personnel" (shift-based deduction).

Hiring/Training

• Classification Coding: HRIS administrators must tag employees holding active Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) certifications. The new leave logic applies *only* to this specific job classification, not to general EMS or administrative staff unless they meet the statutory definition.
• Payroll Training: Payroll staff must be trained to stop converting fire shifts into 8-hour increments for military leave banks.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• Leave Bank Audits: Conduct an immediate audit of military leave banks for all fire personnel. Ensure that any military leave taken on or after June 20, 2025, was deducted at a 1:1 ratio (1 shift : 1 day).
• Certification Tracking: Maintain current TCFP certifications in personnel files to justify the differential leave treatment during financial audits.

Fees & Costs

• Budget Impact: While the Legislative Budget Board predicts no significant fiscal impact, operational costs will effectively rise. Firefighters will now exhaust their 15-day statutory military leave bank much slower (burning 1 day per shift rather than 3), resulting in the employer paying for more total hours of military absence per fiscal year.