74R8521 DRH-F
          By Price                                              H.B. No. 2176
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2176:
          By Siebert                                        C.S.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.