BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 640

By: Schwertner

House Administration

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, facilities management services are provided to buildings designated for legislative use by two different state agencies—the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) provides facilities management services for the Sam Houston Building, Robert E. Johnson Building, and John H. Reagan Building and their grounds while the State Preservation Board (SPB) provides facilities management services for the Capitol, including the Capitol Extension, and its grounds. C.S.S.B. 640 seeks to permit greater efficiency and flexibility in the provision of facilities management services to the legislature and legislative services agencies by authorizing the designation, on a service-by-service basis, of the services, other than certain utility services and costs, to be provided respectively by TFC and SPB.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.S.B. 640 amends the Government Code to make the State Preservation Board (SPB) responsible for providing the following facilities management services:

· for the Sam Houston Building, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of the senate;

· for the John H. Reagan Building, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of the house;

· for an interior portion of the Robert E. Johnson Building occupied by a single legislative agency, the facilities management services designated by that legislative agency's administrative head; and

· for any other portion of the Robert E. Johnson Building and for the attached parking facility known as state parking garage P, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of the Texas Legislative Council (TLC) in consultation with the other affected legislative agencies occupying space in the building.

The bill requires the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) to transfer to SPB an amount of money sufficient to reimburse SPB for the costs incurred by SPB to perform these facilities management services, including any deferred maintenance project performed by SPB. The bill defines "facilities management services" by reference as any state agency facilities management service that is not unique to carrying out a program of the agency, including services related to facilities construction, facilities management, general building and grounds maintenance, cabling, and facility reconfiguration. The bill specifies that the term does not include utility services or utility expenses.

C.S.S.B. 640 authorizes the administrative head of the appropriate legislative agency to select an entity to provide construction management and oversight of a project undertaken to repair or rehabilitate such a facility that is funded by money appropriated to SPB. The entity selected is exclusively responsible for providing construction management and oversight of the project, notwithstanding any other law. On the request of the administrative head of the legislative agency, from the money appropriated to SPB to fund the project, SPB must transfer to the legislative agency the amount of money necessary for the legislative agency to pay the costs the agency incurs in connection with the project.

C.S.S.B. 640 requires TFC to do the following:

· provide any facilities management service for the Sam Houston Building, the John H. Reagan Building, the Robert E. Johnson Building, and state parking garage P that has not been designated to be performed by SPB;

· operate and maintain the central utility plant in the Sam Houston Building;

· operate and maintain the chiller utility plant attached to the Robert E. Johnson Building; and

· as part of phase 2 construction of the Capitol Complex master plan:

o connect the Robert E. Johnson Building to the centralized chilled water distribution system described by that plan; and

o subsequently decommission the chiller utility plant attached to the Robert E. Johnson Building, except for portions of the plant needed to provide backup chilled water for the building's data center or other critical infrastructure identified by the administrative head of TLC.

C.S.S.B. 640 establishes that these provisions do not, and may not be construed to, specifically commit the control of any public buildings or grounds to SPB for purposes of any law. For the chamber and committee rooms occupied by the house and senate in the Capitol, Capitol Extension, and any legislative office building, the administrative head of agency for the appropriate house is required to specify the scope, manner, and performance of all work related to audiovisual systems, including sound systems.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.S.B. 640 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The engrossed made SPB responsible for providing general building and grounds maintenance for the Sam Houston Building, the Robert E. Johnson Building and the attached chiller utility plant and parking facility known as state parking garage P, and the John H. Reagan Building. The substitute instead requires SPB to operate and maintain that chiller utility plant, subject to a requirement set out in the substitute for that plant to be subsequently decommissioned as part of phase 2 construction of the Capitol Complex master plan, and makes SPB responsible for providing the following:

· for the Sam Houston Building, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of the senate;

· for the John H. Reagan Building, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of the house;

· for an interior portion of the Robert E. Johnson Building occupied by a single legislative agency, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of that legislative agency; and

· for any other portion of the Robert E. Johnson Building and for the attached parking facility known as state parking garage P, the facilities management services designated by the administrative head of the Texas Legislative Council in consultation with the other affected legislative agencies occupying space in the building.

Accordingly, the substitute includes a definition of "facilities management services" not in the engrossed.

All other provisions of the substitute were absent from the engrossed, other than the requirement for SPB to operate and maintain the central utility plant in the Sam Houston Building and the provision establishing that the bill does not, and may not be constructed to, specifically commit any public buildings or grounds to SPB.