Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 1764	House Author:  Israel
Effective:  Vetoed	Senate Sponsor:  Watson

            Previous law exempted a contract totaling $50,000 or less for the construction of an improvement or the purchase of any property from competitive bidding requirements for certain metropolitan rapid transit authorities. House Bill 1764 amends the Transportation Code to change the maximum value of such a contract to the simplified acquisition threshold as defined by federal regulations. The bill revises the computation of certain indicators used in performance audits of certain metropolitan rapid transit authorities. The bill changes the cap on the amount the Capital Metropolitan Rapid Transit authority may spend for capital improvements from the total amount allocated for major capital expenditures in the annual budget to the total amounts allocated for major capital expenditures in the current and preceding annual budget of the authority. The bill caps the term of bonds issued by the authority at 15 years and makes such bonds payable only from revenue received on or after their issue date.

 

Governor's Reason for Veto: "House Bill 1764 would have reduced budget transparency and competitive bidding requirements for local transportation authorities such as Austin's Capital Metro. The bill would have raised from $50,000 to $150,000 the value of a contract that Capital Metro could award without competitive bidding. It would also have expanded Capital Metro's ability to go into debt.

 

"The legislative bill analysis for House Bill 1764 indicates that the bill was envisioned because 'Capital Metro discovered that several sections of Chapter 451 [of the TRANSPORTATION CODE] are out of date with its current operations.' If Capital Metro's way of doing business violates the Transportation Code, the answer is not House Bill 1764. The answer is for Capital Metro to follow the law."