HB 5606 Texas House · 89th Legislature (2025)

Relating to a sick leave pool for public school employees.

HB 5606 creates a sick leave pool for Texas public school employees. It requires school districts and charter schools to establish a program where retiring employees can contribute their unused accrued sick leave to a shared pool. Current employees who exhaust their own sick leave may then use this pooled leave, subject to district policies. The bill also mandates that school district handbooks and leave request forms include information about the pool and list "assault leave" as an option. The law takes effect September 1, 2025, with existing policies adopted before that date exempt from the new requirement.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Apr 2025

Committee Review

May 2025

House Passage

May 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Apr 7, 2025 Last action May 28, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Engrossed · 5 edits · May 16, 2025

MODERATE

This bill establishes a sick leave pool program for public school employees in Texas, allowing retiring employees to contribute their accrued sick leave to a shared pool that other employees can use when they exhaust their own sick leave. The legislation adds new requirements for school districts to create and manage these pools while providing exemptions for districts with pre-existing policies that would conflict with the new program.

Scope change

The bill expands the scope of sick leave provisions by creating a new shared sick leave pool system for public school employees, moving beyond individual sick leave accumulation to a collective resource.

REQUIREMENT

School boards and charter school governing bodies must establish a sick leave pool program where retiring employees contribute accrued sick leave days to a shared pool.

School districts must include information about the sick leave pool program and employee rights in their informational handbooks and leave request forms.

ELIGIBILITY

Current employees who have exhausted their granted sick leave days become eligible to use sick leave from the pool, subject to existing district or school policies.

EXEMPTIONS

Schools that adopted sick leave policies before September 1, 2025 are exempt from creating the pool if doing so would conflict with their existing policies.

TIMELINE

The bill takes effect on September 1, 2025, with immediate effect requiring a two-thirds vote from both legislative houses.

Floor votes · House May 15, 2025

How they voted

123–12

Passed · 7 other

Total votes 142

May 15, 2025

D Democratic58

53 Yea 5

91% Yea

R Republican84

70 Yea 12 Nay 2

83% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee report printed and distributed

upper

May 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported favorably w/o amendments

upper

May 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Vote taken in committee

upper

May 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Testimony taken in committee

upper

May 20, 2025

Committee

Referred to Education K-16

upper

May 20, 2025

Introduced

Read first time

upper

May 19, 2025

Introduced

Received from the House

upper

May 16, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed

lower

May 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed to engrossment

lower

May 9, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee report sent to Calendars

lower

May 8, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee report distributed

lower

May 1, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported favorably as substituted

lower

Apr 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

Left pending in committee

lower

Apr 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee

lower

Apr 7, 2025

Committee

Referred to Public Education

lower

Apr 7, 2025

Introduced

Read first time

lower

2 primary · 2 co-sponsors