74R8521 DRH-F
By Price H.B. No. 2176
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the award of highway improvement contracts.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 8, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of the
1-5 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674h, Vernon's
1-6 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 8. (a) All contracts proposed to be made by the Texas
1-8 <State> Department of <Highways and Public> Transportation for the
1-9 improvement of any highway constituting a part of the State Highway
1-10 System or for materials to be used in the construction or
1-11 maintenance thereof shall be submitted to competitive bids.
1-12 (b) Notice of the time when and place where such contracts
1-13 will be let and bids opened shall be published in some newspaper
1-14 published in the county where the improvement is to be done once a
1-15 week for at least two weeks prior to the time set for the letting
1-16 said contract and in two other newspapers that the department may
1-17 designate. Provided, however, that on contracts estimated by the
1-18 department to involve <involving> less than $300,000 <One Hundred
1-19 Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars> such advertising may be limited to
1-20 two successive issues of any newspaper published in the county in
1-21 which the work is to be done.
1-22 (c) If<, and if> there is no newspaper published in the
1-23 county in which the work is to be done, then the <said> advertising
1-24 required by Subsection (b) of this section shall be for publication
2-1 in some newspaper published in some county nearest the county seat
2-2 of the county in which the work is to be done.
2-3 (d) Any <Provided further, that any> person, firm or
2-4 corporation may make application to have the name of the <said>
2-5 applicant placed upon a mailing list to receive notices of lettings
2-6 of any contracts provided for in this section <herein>; and notices
2-7 of <said> lettings shall be mailed by the department <State Highway
2-8 and Public Transportation Commission> to all persons, firms or
2-9 corporations on the <said> mailing list. The department
2-10 <Commission> shall have the right to require all applicants to
2-11 remit to the department an annual subscription fee set by the
2-12 department in an amount not to exceed the average annual <deposit
2-13 with the commission a sum of not exceeding Twenty-five ($25.00)
2-14 Dollars per year to cover> costs of mailing notices to an
2-15 applicant. The department shall deposit fees in the state treasury
2-16 to the credit of the state highway fund. Sections 403.094(h) and
2-17 403.095, Government Code, do not apply to funds deposited in the
2-18 state highway fund under this subsection.
2-19 SECTION 2. Section 9, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of the
2-20 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674i, Vernon's
2-21 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
2-22 Sec. 9. (a) <The State Department of Highways and Public
2-23 Transportation shall have the right to reject any and all such
2-24 bids.> All such bids shall be sealed, and filed with the executive
2-25 director of the Texas Department of Transportation or the
2-26 director's designee <State Engineer-Director for Highways and
2-27 Public Transportation> at Austin, Texas, and shall be opened at a
3-1 public meeting by the director or the director's designee <hearing
3-2 of the State Highway and Public Transportation Commission>. All
3-3 bidders may attend and all bids shall be opened in their presence.
3-4 The Texas Transportation Commission by rule may prescribe
3-5 conditions under which a bid may be rejected by the department.
3-6 <Copies of all such bids shall be filed with the county in which
3-7 the work is to be performed. Provided however, on contracts
3-8 involving less than One Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars bids
3-9 may in the discretion of the Commission be received at a public
3-10 hearing by the District Engineer at the District Headquarters.>
3-11 All bids so received and not rejected by the department <by the
3-12 District Engineer> shall be tabulated and forwarded to the
3-13 Commission, and the Commission shall have the right to accept or
3-14 reject same, and if accepted, award the contract to the lowest
3-15 bidder, subject to the requirement of Section 8A of this Act.
3-16 (b) For a contract estimated by the department to involve
3-17 less than $300,000, the Commission may by rule allow bids to be
3-18 filed with the district engineer at a district headquarters and
3-19 opened and read at a public meeting held by the district engineer
3-20 or the district engineer's designee. The Commission may delegate
3-21 to the executive director or the executive director's designee the
3-22 right to accept or reject bids received, subject to the
3-23 requirements of Section 8A of this Act, and to award a contract to
3-24 the lowest bidder. <It shall be the duty of the Commission to
3-25 prescribe rules and regulations on all bidders on bids received by
3-26 District Engineers, but the rules and regulations required by the
3-27 Commission for bids received at Austin by said Commission shall not
4-1 apply to bidders submitting bids to District Engineers.>
4-2 SECTION 3. Section 11, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of
4-3 the 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674k,
4-4 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
4-5 Sec. 11. The Texas Transportation <State Highway> Commission
4-6 shall prescribe the form of such contracts and may include therein
4-7 such matters as they may deem advantageous to the State. Such
4-8 forms shall be uniform, as near as may be. The commission may
4-9 delegate its authority under this section to the executive director
4-10 of the Texas Department of Transportation. The executive director
4-11 may delegate authority received under this section to an employee
4-12 of the department who is not below the rank of division director.
4-13 SECTION 4. Section 12, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of
4-14 the 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674l,
4-15 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
4-16 Sec. 12. Every such contract for highway improvement under
4-17 the provisions of this Act shall be made in the name of the State
4-18 of Texas, signed by the executive director of the Texas Department
4-19 of Transportation or the director's designee <State Highway
4-20 Engineer>, approved by at least two members of the Texas
4-21 Transportation <State Highway> Commission or a designee under
4-22 Section 2103.064(a), Government Code, and signed by the contracting
4-23 party, and no such contract shall be entered into which will create
4-24 a liability on the part of the State in excess of funds available
4-25 for expenditure under the terms of this Act.
4-26 SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only
4-27 to a contract for which a notice has been published under Sections
5-1 8(b) and (c), Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of the 39th
5-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674h, Vernon's Texas
5-3 Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, on or after the effective
5-4 date of this Act. A contract for which the notice was published
5-5 before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
5-6 effect when the notice was published, and the former law is
5-7 continued in effect for that purpose.
5-8 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-14 passage, and it is so enacted.