BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4105

By: Harless

Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that under current law Harris County is allowed to consider a prospective contractor's principal place of business when awarding contracts for personal and real property but is not allowed to do so for contracts relating to construction. This unnecessarily limits the county's ability to promote economic growth in the region and enhance the sustainability of the local workforce. H.B. 4105 seeks to address this issue by authorizing Harris County to award a contract for the construction, repair, or renovation of a structure, road, highway, or other improvement to a bidder whose principal place of business is in the county or a contiguous county, if certain additional conditions are met.

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

H.B. 4105 amends the Local Government Code to authorize a county with a population of more than 3.3 million to award a contract for services or for the construction, repair, or renovation of a structure, road, highway, or other improvement or addition to real property to a bidder whose principal place of business is in the county or in a contiguous county under the following conditions:

·         the bid or proposed price submitted by the bidder is within three percent of the lowest bid or proposed price received by the county from a bidder with the ability to perform the contract that does not have a principal place of business in the county or in a contiguous county; and

·         the commissioners court determines, in writing, that the bid or proposal of the bidder offers the county the best combination of the following:

o   contract price;

o   ability to perform the contract; and

o   additional economic development opportunities for the county created by the contract award, including the employment of county residents and increased tax revenues to the county.

The bill prohibits such a county from awarding a contract to a bidder if a person that would approve the contract is related to the bidder within the third degree by consanguinity or second degree by affinity or has financial ties to the bidder. The bill's provisions expressly do not prohibit such a county from rejecting all bids.

H.B. 4105 does not apply to a contract for professional services governed by the Professional Services Procurement Act. The bill applies only to a contract for which a county first advertises or otherwise solicits bids, proposals, offers, or qualifications or makes a similar solicitation on or after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.