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  By: Hegar S.B. No. 534
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain rights and liabilities of an employer regarding
an employee's access to a concealed handgun.
       BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
       SECTION 1.  Chapter 52, Labor Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter G to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER G.  RESTRICTIONS ON PENALIZING EMPLOYEE FOR ACCESS TO OR
STORAGE OF CONCEALED HANDGUN
       Sec. 52.061.  PENALIZING EMPLOYEE FOR ACCESS TO OR STORAGE
OF A CONCEALED HANDGUN.  (a)  A public or private employer may not
discharge, discipline, or penalize in any manner an employee
because the employee:
             (1)  applied for a license to carry a concealed handgun
under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code;
             (2)  holds a license under that subchapter; or
             (3)  transports or stores a handgun the employee is
licensed to carry under that subchapter in the employee's locked
motor vehicle in a parking lot, parking garage, or other parking
area the employer provides for employees if the handgun is hidden
from plain view and the employee has filed with the employee's
immediate supervisor:
                   (A)  a written statement signed by the employee
stating that the employee:
                         (i)  is licensed to carry a concealed
handgun under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code;
                         (ii)  intends to store a concealed handgun
in the employee's locked motor vehicle while parked in a parking
lot, parking garage, or other parking area the employer provides
for employees; and
                         (iii)  may not remove the handgun from the
employee's vehicle for any purpose other than self-defense in the
immediate parking area; and
                   (B)  a copy of the employee's license to carry a
concealed handgun issued to the employee by the Department of
Public Safety under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code.
       (b)  Subsection (a)(3) does not apply to an employer of an
employee who transports or stores a handgun in a motor vehicle that
the employee is actively using in the course and scope of the
employee's employment. For purposes of this subsection, the course
and scope of the employee's employment does not include travel
between the employee's home and the employee's place of employment.
       (c)  An employee discharged in violation of this section is
entitled to reinstatement to the same position in which the
employee was employed immediately before the employee was
discharged.
       (d)  An employee who is discharged, disciplined, or
otherwise penalized in violation of this section may bring a civil
action against the employer to enforce rights protected by this
subchapter.  An employee who prevails in such an action is entitled
to recover:
             (1)  lost wages and any other compensation lost as a
result of the employee being discharged, disciplined, or penalized;
             (2)  reinstatement to the same position or status the
employee held immediately before the employee was discharged,
disciplined, or penalized; and
             (3)  reasonable attorney's fees.
       (e)  It is a defense to an action by an employee alleging that
the employee was discharged, disciplined, or penalized in violation
of Subsection (a)(3) that:
             (1)  the employer provided the employee an alternative
location on the employer's property for the employee to securely
store the employee's handgun while on the employer's property; and
             (2)  the employee did not store the employee's handgun
in that alternate location.
       (f)  This section does not prohibit an employer from
discharging, disciplining, or penalizing an employee who stores a
handgun in the employee's motor vehicle in a parking area of the
employer without having satisfied the requirements of Subsection
(a)(3).
       (g)  This section does not prohibit an employer from
prohibiting an employee licensed to carry a concealed handgun under
Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, from carrying a firearm
on the premises of the employer's business. In this subsection,
"premises" has the meaning assigned by Section 46.035(f)(3), Penal
Code.
       (h)  This section does not authorize a person licensed under
Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, to carry a concealed
handgun on any property where the carrying of a concealed handgun is
prohibited by state or federal law.
       (i)  Notwithstanding Subsection (a)(3), an employer may
prohibit an employee described by that subsection from transporting
or storing a handgun in the employee's locked motor vehicle in a
parking area the employer provides employees if:
             (1)  the parking area is completely surrounded by a
fence and is not open to the public;
             (2)  ingress to and egress from the parking area are
constantly monitored by security personnel; and
             (3)  the employer provides an alternate parking area in
close proximity for the employee in which the employee may
transport or store a handgun in the employee's locked motor vehicle
in accordance with Subsection (a)(3).
       (j)  This section does not apply to a parking area on any
property owned or leased by an employer who is required to submit a
risk management plan under Section 550 of the Department of
Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007 (Pub. L. No. 109-295)
and contracts with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the employer's employees work at a National
Aeronautics and Space Administration facility in a county with a
population of over 3.3 million.
       SECTION 2.  Section 411.203, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
       Sec. 411.203.  RIGHTS OF EMPLOYERS; LIMITATION ON LIABILITY.  
(a)  This subchapter does not prevent or otherwise limit the right
of a public or private employer to prohibit persons who are licensed
under this subchapter from carrying a concealed handgun on the
premises of the business. In this subsection, "premises" has the
meaning assigned by Section 46.035(f)(3), Penal Code.
       (b)  A public or private employer is not liable in a civil
action for damages resulting from an occurrence involving the
storage in a parking area of the employer of a concealed handgun in
the motor vehicle of an employee who is licensed under this
subchapter.
       SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a cause of action that accrues on or after the effective date of
this Act.  A cause of action that accrues before that date is
governed by the law as it existed immediately before the effective
date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
       SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.