ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

GREG ABBOTT 

April 5,2004 

The Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr. 

Chair, Defense Affairs and State-Federal 

Relations Committee 

Texas House of Representatives 

Post Office Box 2910 

Austin, Texas 78711 

Opinion No. GA-01 74 

Re: Whether the City of Fort Worth must assume the 

full cost of continuing health insurance and other 

benefits for its fire fighters and police called to 

military service, and whether the City must allow its 

employees to donate to the military leave-time 

account their accrued paid leave that would expire if 

not used before the end of the year (RQ-0121-GA) 

Dear Representative Corte: 

On behalf of the City of Fort Worth (the “City”), you ask whether Local Government Code 

section 143.072 requires the City to assume the full cost of continuing health insurance and other 

benefits for its fire fighters and police called to military service.’ You also ask whether section 

143.075 requires the City to allow its employees to donate to the military leave-time account their 

accrued paid leave that would otherwise expire if not taken before the end of the year. See Request 

Letter, supra note 1, at 2. 

Chapter 143 of theLocal Government Code provides the terms by which a municipality with 

a population of 10,000 or more may establish a Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Civil Service 

Commission in the municipality. See TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE ANN. $3 143.002, .004, .006 (Vernon 

1999). Section 143.072 regulates a commission’s provision of military leave to fire fighters and 

police officers. See id. 8 143.072 (Vernon Supp. 2004). It generally specifies the terms by which 

a commission must grant a fne fighter or police officer unpaid leave to enter a branch of the military, 

fill the fire fighter’s or police officer’s position during military service, and reinstate a fire fighter 

or police officer who has completed military service. Id. 0 143.072(a)-(h). 

‘See Letter from Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr., Chair, Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations Committee, 

Texas House of Representatives, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General, at 1 (Oct. 10,2003) (on file with 

Opinion Committee) [hereinafter Request Letter]. 
The Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr. - Page 2 (GA-0174) 

In 2003, the legislature enacted a number of measures designed to assist public servants who 

are called to military duty2 One of the 2003 enactments amended the terms of fire fighters’ and 

police officers’ military leave in chapter 143. See Act of May 30,2003,78th Leg., R.S., ch. 287, 

$5 l-2,2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 12551255-56 (codified at TEX. Lot. GOV’T CODE ANN. 83 143.072, 

.075 (Vernon Supp. 2004)) (“the Act”). The Act (1) requires the municipality to “continue to 

maintain” certain employee insurance and benefits coverage, (2) establishes a paid-leave account by 

which employees may donate their accumulated entitlement of paid leave to be used by fire fighters 

and officers on military leave, and (3) authorizes a qualified person to volunteer to substitute for a 

fire fighter or officer who is away on military leave. See id. 

With respect to benefits, the Act adds section 143.072(g), which provides: . 

If a fire fighter or police officer employed by a municipality 

is called to active military duty for any period, the employing 

municipality must continue to maintain any health, dental, or life 

insurance coverage and any health or dental benefits coverage that the 

fire fighter or police officer received through the municipality on the 

date the fire fighter or police officer was called to active military duty 

until the municipality receives written instructions from the fire 

fighter or police officer to change or discontinue the coverage. 

TEX. Lot. GOV’T CODE ANN. 8 143.072(g) (V emon Supp. 2004) (emphasis added). The City 

explains that under its benefit plan the City and the employee each pays a portion of the employee’s 

insurance premiurn3 The City wishes to know if the statutory directive to “continue to maintain” 

benefits coverage allows the City to do so on the same terms that were in effect when the employee 

left on military leave. See City Letter, supra note 3, at 1. As you phrase the question: 

Who is required to pay for the continuing coverage? . . . . Does the 

statute require both the City and the employees to continue to pay 

their portions of the premiums? If the employee pays a portion of the 

premium, may the City collect the employee[‘s] payments while they 

are away on military service? If the employees discontinue payments, 

can the City legally discontinue the health insurance? 

Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1. 

2See, e.g., TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. $9 43 1.005(a) (Vernon Supp. 2004) (entitling employees of the state and 

its political subdivisions to a paid leave of absence “for not more than 15 workdays in a federal fiscal year”); 43 1.0825 

(entitling state employees to paid emergency leave without loss of military leave); 659.023 (requiring an agency to 

accommodate state employee’s request to use accrued state compensatory time before it expires); 66 1.904 (concerning 

military leave of employees called to active duty during a national emergency to serve in the armed forces reserves); 

661.904 1 (requiring the head of a state agency to grant emergency leave as differential pay to an employee on unpaid 

military leave whose military pay is less than the employee’s state pay); TEX. Lot. GOV’T CODE ANN. $0 173.001-.005 

(Vernon Supp. 2004) (authorizing municipality or county to continue the salary of employees who are members of a 

reserve component of the armed forces called to active duty and who have exhausted all military leave under state law). 

3See Letter from David L. Yett, Fort Worth City Attorney, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General, 

at 1 (Sept. 10,2003) (on file with Opinion Committee) [hereafter City Letter]. 
The Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr. - Page 3 (GA-0174) 

Unambiguous statutes are construed generally according to their plain language. See City 

of San Antonio v. City of Boerne, 111 S.W.3d 22,25 (Tex. 2003). We must construe the language 

of a statute in context and give the words their ordinary meanings. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. 

0 3 11 .Ol l(a) (Vernon 1998). As with other 2003 legislation, the Act as a whole evidences an intent 

to mitigate the impact of leaving civil service to fulfill military obligations.4 Section 143.072(g) 

expressly states that when a municipality’s fire fighters and police officers are called to active 

military duty, the “municipality must continue to maintain any health, dental, or life insurance 

coverage and any health or dental benefits coverage that the fire fighter or police offker received 

through the municipality on the date the fire fighter or police officer was called.” TEX. LOC. GOV’T 

CODE ANN. 9 143.072(g) (Vernon Supp. 2004). While the statute does not specify the exact terms 

of coverage, the phrase “continue to maintain” strongly suggests status quo. See id. The plain 

language of the statute requires that a municipality maintain the employee’s insurance and benefits 

coverage on the same terms that were in effect when the employee was called for military duty? 

Those terms may include the employee’s obligations to pay their portion of any premiums. With 

respect to your subsidiary questions about the mechanics of premium collection, see Request Letter, 

supra note 1, at 1, we believe that is an administrative matter to be determined pursuant to the terms 

of the particular coverage offered. See generally T.Ex. LOC. GOV’T CODE ANN. 03 172.001-.015 

(Vernon 1999 & Supp. 2004) (Texas Political Subdivision Employees Uniform Group Benefits Act). 

Your second question concerns a new section added by the Act, section 143.075, which 

provides: 

(a) A municipality shall maintain military leave time accounts for the 

fire and police departments and must maintain a separate military 

leave time account for each department. 

(b) A military leave time account shall benefit a fire fighter or police 

offker who: 

(1) is a member of the Texas National Guard or the armed 

forces reserves of the United States; 

(2) was called to active federal military duty while serving as 

a fire fighter or police officer for the municipality; 

4We note that the Government Code requires state agencies to review with state employees called to active duty 

during a national emergency in the armed forces reserves what the employees must do to maintain health insurance 

coverage, including premium payments. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. $661.904(e) (Vernon Supp. 2004). 

‘The Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (“USERRA”) also provides for continued 

health plan coverage for employees on military duty. Under USERRA, an employee who elects to continue coverage 

may be required to pay up to 102 percent of the full premium, “except that in the case of a person who performs service 

in the uniformed services for less than 3 1 days, such person may not be required to pay more than the employee share, 

if any, for such coverage.” 38 U.S.C. $4317(a)(2) (2000). 
The Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr. - Page 4 (GA-0174) 

(3) has served on active duty for a period of 12 continuous 

months or longer; and 

(4) has exhausted the balance of the person’s vacation, 

holiday, and compensatory leave time accumulations. 

(c) A fire fighter or police officer may donate any amount of 

accumulated vacation, holiday, sick, or compensatory leave time to 

the military leave time account in that fire fighter’s or police officer’s 

department to help provide salary continuation for fire fighters or 

police officers who qualify as eligible beneficiaries of the account 

under Subsection (b). A fire fighter or police officer who wishes to 

donate time to an account under this section must authorize the 

donation in writing on a form provided by the fire or police 

department and approved by the municipality. 

(d) A municipality shall equally distribute the leave time donated to 

a military leave time account among all fire fighters or police officers 

who are eligible beneficiaries of that account. The municipality shall 

credit and debit the applicable military leave time account on an 

hourly basis regardless of the cash value of the time donated or used. 

See Act of May 30, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 287, 8 2, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 1255, 1255-56 

(codified at TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE ANN. 9 143.075 (Vernon Supp. 2004)) (emphasis added). In 

particular, you ask how subsection (c), which permits municipal fire fighters and police officers to 

donate “any amount of accumulated vacation, holiday, sick, or compensatory leave time,” comports 

with the City’s employee leave carryover policies. Id. $ 143.075(c) (emphasis added); Request 

Letter, supra note 1, at 2. Cities with a civil service commission may decide how much vacation 

leave, if any, a fire fighter or police officer may carry over from year to year. See TEX. LOC. GOV’T 

CODE ANN. $ 143.046 (Vernon 1999). The City permits its police officers to accumulate up to 90 

days of vacation time and up to 120 hours of compensatory time, referred to as a “cap” on both 

categories of leave time. City Letter, supra note 3, at 2. As the City explains: “If an employee 

accumulates leave in excess of the cap, he must take the leave by December of that year, or the leave 

is taken off the books. It is a ‘use it or lose it’ rule.” Id. You ask whether the statute permits a fire 

fighter or police officer to donate leave time accumulated in excess of the cap. See Request Letter, 

supra note 1, at 2. 

The City interprets the statute to mean that employees may donate only “paid leave that is 

not subject to the cap.” City Letter, supra note 3, at 2. The City illustrates its interpretation with this 

example: “[I]f a police officer with 92 days of accumulated vacation donated the two additional days 

to the military leave bank, the days should be taken out of the leave bank in December just as they 

would be taken off the officer’s accumulation of vacation in December.” Id. The City contends that 

only “[tlhe donor’s rights to use the leave are transferred to the leave bank, nothing more.” Id. 
The Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr. - Page 5 (GA-0174) 

The plain language of section 143.075 does not permit an interpretation that limits an 

employee’s right to donate to the military leave-time account in the way that the City suggests. The 

statute does not in any way qualify a fire fighter’s or a police officer’s right to donate accumulated 

leave-it may be donated in “any amount.” TEX. Lot. GOV’T CODE ANN. 0 143.075(c) (Vernon 

Supp. 2004). And as you have explained the City’s leave policies, the cap pertains only to 

accumulated leave that may be carried over into a new year. Accordingly, during the year, fire 

fighters and police officers may donate whatever leave they would be entitled to use for themselves. 

The City contends that donated leave in the account expires at the end of the year and may 

be deleted from the account if the donor has accumulated the maximum amount of carryover leave. 

City Letter, supra note 3, at 2. The City’s position assumes that leave in the account would be 

subject to the donor’s leave rights as determined at the end of the year. However, such an 

interpretation would frustrate an employee’s right to donate leave time in “any amount” under 

section 143.075(c). Furthermore, that interpretation does not comport with section 143.075(d), 

which specifies the terms of the military leave-time account. 

Section 143.075(d) requires a municipality to distribute leave from the account equally to all 

eligible beneficiaries. See TEX. LOC. GOV’T CODE ANN. 5 143.075(d) (Vernon Supp. 2004). The 

municipality must credit and debit the account on an hourly basis without regard to the cash value 

of the time donated to or used from the account. See id. The statute does not provide a means for 

the donor to reclaim donated leave; consequently, a donation of leave under subsection (d) is 

complete once credited to the leave account. Under section 143.075(d), leave donated and credited 

to the military leave-time account no longer belongs to the donor and is not subject to the donor’s 

leave rights determined at a later date! Consistent with section 143.075 as a whole, and to effectuate 

the Act’s overall purpose, we conclude that once donated leave has been credited to the military 

leave-time account under section 143.075(d), it may not be deleted from the account because of 

limits on the donor’s rights to carry over leave into the next year. 

6We note that in an analogous program, the sick leave pool that a county may establish under chapter 157 of 

the Local Government Code, leave credited to the sick leave pool is not thereafter subject to the donor’s leave rights. 

Under chapter 157, the sick leave pool administrator must “credit the pool with the amount of time contributed by the 

employee and shall deduct the same amount of time from the amount to which the employee is entitled, as if the 

employee had used the time for personal purposes.” TEX. Lot. GOV’T CODE ANN. 0 157.074(b) (Vernon Supp. 2004). 

When an eligible employee withdraws leave from the sick leave pool, the “administrator shall credit the time to the 

employee, and the employee may use the time in the same manner as sick leave earned by the employee in the course 

of employment.” Id. 5 157.075(b). While not as detailed, section 143.075(d) also indicates that leave credited to the 

military leave-time account is not thereafter subject to the donor’s rights. See id. $ 143.075(d). 
The Honorable Frank J. Corte Jr. - Page 6 (GA-0174) 

SUMMARY 

A municipality must maintain the insurance and benefits 

coverage when a municipal fire fighter or police officer is called for 

military duty, but only on the terms in effect when the employee 

received the call. Those terms may include the employees’ 

obligations to pay their portion of any premiums. 

Municipal fire fighters and police officers are entitled to 

donate any amount of leave to their department’s military leave-time 

account that they would be entitled to use for themselves. A 

municipality may not delete time from the military leave-time account 

on the ground that an employee who donated leave to the account has 

accumulated the maximum amount of leave that municipal policies 

permit an employee to carry over from year to year. 

Very truly yours, 

Attorney&f&al of Texas 

BARRY R. MCBEE 

First Assistant Attorney General 

DON R. WILLETT 

Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel 

NANCY S. FULLER 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

William A. Hill 

Assistant Attorney General, Opinion Committee