By:  Smithee                                          H.B. No. 1027
       73R853 GGS-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the privatization of governmental services.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subtitle E, Title 4, Government Code, is amended
    1-5  by adding Chapter 466 to read as follows:
    1-6         CHAPTER 466.  PRIVATIZATION APPROVAL COUNCIL OF TEXAS
    1-7        Sec. 466.001.  COUNCIL.  The Privatization Approval Council
    1-8  of Texas is an agency of state government.
    1-9        Sec. 466.002.  COMPOSITIONS; PRESIDING OFFICER; MEETINGS.
   1-10  (a)  The council is composed of the governor, lieutenant governor,
   1-11  comptroller, executive director of the Department of Information
   1-12  Resources, and executive director of the General Services
   1-13  Commission, or their designees.  The speaker of the house of
   1-14  representatives or the speaker's designee serves as a nonvoting
   1-15  member of the council.
   1-16        (b)  Service on the council is an additional duty of a
   1-17  member's office.
   1-18        (c)  The governor or the governor's designee is the presiding
   1-19  officer of the council.
   1-20        (d)  The council shall meet as provided by council rule or at
   1-21  the call of the presiding officer.
   1-22        (e)  A member of the council is not liable for an action
   1-23  taken in good faith as a member of the council.
   1-24        Sec. 466.003.  STAFF.  The staff of the officers and agencies
    2-1  represented on the council shall serve as the staff of the council.
    2-2        Sec. 466.004.  POWERS AND DUTIES.  (a)  The council may adopt
    2-3  rules necessary to perform its functions under this chapter.
    2-4        (b)  The council shall review proposals submitted to the
    2-5  council by private or governmental entities, including state
    2-6  agencies, that are proposals:
    2-7              (1)  to perform a state service that is not required by
    2-8  the constitution and that, at the time of the submission of the
    2-9  proposals, is being performed by a state governmental entity; or
   2-10              (2)  for the sale of state assets.
   2-11        (c)  If a proposal under Subsection (b) would cause
   2-12  reasonable savings for the state, the council shall recommend
   2-13  adoption of the proposal.  If the proposal would entail the sale of
   2-14  state personal property, the council may recommend a sale that
   2-15  follows the procedures of Section 9.04 or 9.05, State Purchasing
   2-16  and General Services Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil
   2-17  Statutes). If a proposal would entail the sale of state real
   2-18  property, the council shall forward its recommendations to the
   2-19  legislature.
   2-20        (d)  The council shall direct its staff to examine new
   2-21  approaches to privatization.
   2-22        SECTION 2.  Article 13, State Purchasing and General Services
   2-23  Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is repealed.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-25        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-26  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-27  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    3-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.