AUSTIN — Leaders in the Senate and House vowed Tuesday to crack down on widespread misuse of so-called emergency leave following reports by The Dallas Morning News that detailed dozens of cases in which employees continued to be paid months after they left state work, an apparent severance in some cases.
Sen. Jane Nelson of Flower Mound, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee, cited “news reports” when she strayed from the meeting agenda to raise concerns about the lack of oversight or restrictions governing how the leave can be used by top officials.
Emergency leave is supposed to give state employees a financial cushion in the event of a death in the family, health issues or another extraordinary event. But that isn’t stopping top state officials, including Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, from doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars in leave because the law allows an agency chief to do so for “good cause.”