H.B. No. 2663
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the powers and duties of the commissioners court.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 81, Local Government Code,
    1-5  is amended by adding Section 81.028 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 81.028.  CERTAIN POWERS SPECIFIED.  Each commissioners
    1-7  court may:
    1-8              (1)  establish public ferries whenever the public
    1-9  interest may require;
   1-10              (2)  lay out and establish, change, discontinue, close,
   1-11  abandon, or vacate public roads and highways;
   1-12              (3)  build bridges and keep them in repair;
   1-13              (4)  appoint road overseers and apportion hands;
   1-14              (5)  exercise general control over all roads, highways,
   1-15  ferries, and bridges in their counties;
   1-16              (6)  provide for the support of paupers, residents of
   1-17  their county, who are unable to support themselves.  A county is
   1-18  obligated to provide health care assistance to eligible residents
   1-19  only to the extent prescribed by Chapter 61, Health and Safety
   1-20  Code, but that chapter does not affect the authority of a
   1-21  commissioners court to provide eligibility standards or other
   1-22  requirements relating to other assistance programs or services that
   1-23  are not covered by Chapter 61; and
    2-1              (7)  establish a least cost review program for public
    2-2  improvements to be constructed by use of personnel, equipment, or
    2-3  facilities of the county that may exceed a cost of $100,000 or a
    2-4  lesser amount in the discretion of the commissioners court.
    2-5        SECTION 2.  Chapter 140, Local Government Code, is amended by
    2-6  adding Section 140.005 to read as follows:
    2-7        Sec. 140.005.  LEAST COST REVIEW PROGRAM.  (a)  To assist
    2-8  counties, the state auditor in consultation with the comptroller of
    2-9  public accounts may develop, promulgate, and widely distribute
   2-10  forms, with instruction, for cost accounting for public
   2-11  improvements.  The auditor and the comptroller shall consult with
   2-12  large and small governmental entities and the construction industry
   2-13  prior to the promulgation of the forms and instructions.
   2-14        (b)  The cost accounting forms shall be simple and concise
   2-15  and capable of being completed by the counties at a minimum cost.
   2-16  The form shall provide a simple comparison of the cost of public
   2-17  improvements constructed by a county's personnel, equipment, or
   2-18  facilities and a competitive bid submitted by the private sector.
   2-19        (c)  The forms and instructions promulgated and distributed
   2-20  shall provide for cost comparisons by all governmental entities,
   2-21  including but not limited to counties, municipalities, special
   2-22  districts, and any other such entities that construct public
   2-23  improvements in-house.  The cost comparison forms, with
   2-24  instruction, shall be promulgated and distributed by May 21, 1994.
   2-25        SECTION 3.  Article 2351, Revised Statutes, is repealed.
    3-1        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    3-2        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-4  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.