1-1 By: Price (Senate Sponsor - Cain) H.B. No. 2176
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 4, 1995;
1-3 May 5, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on State
1-4 Affairs; May 12, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 11, Nays 0; May 12, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the award of highway improvement contracts.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 8, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of the
1-11 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674h, Vernon's
1-12 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-13 Sec. 8. (a) All contracts proposed to be made by the Texas
1-14 <State> Department of <Highways and Public> Transportation for the
1-15 improvement of any highway constituting a part of the State Highway
1-16 System or for materials to be used in the construction or
1-17 maintenance thereof shall be submitted to competitive bids.
1-18 (b) Notice of the time when and place where such contracts
1-19 will be let and bids opened shall be published in some newspaper
1-20 published in the county where the improvement is to be done once a
1-21 week for at least two weeks prior to the time set for the letting
1-22 said contract and in two other newspapers that the department may
1-23 designate. Provided, however, that on contracts estimated by the
1-24 department to involve <involving> less than $300,000 <One Hundred
1-25 Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars> such advertising may be limited to
1-26 two successive issues of any newspaper published in the county in
1-27 which the work is to be done.
1-28 (c) If<, and if> there is no newspaper published in the
1-29 county in which the work is to be done, then the <said> advertising
1-30 required by Subsection (b) of this section shall be for publication
1-31 in some newspaper published in some county nearest the county seat
1-32 of the county in which the work is to be done.
1-33 (d) Any <Provided further, that any> person, firm or
1-34 corporation may make application to have the name of the <said>
1-35 applicant placed upon a mailing list to receive notices of lettings
1-36 of any contracts provided for in this section <herein>; and notices
1-37 of <said> lettings shall be mailed by the department <State Highway
1-38 and Public Transportation Commission> to all persons, firms or
1-39 corporations on the <said> mailing list. The department
1-40 <Commission> shall have the right to require all applicants to
1-41 remit to the department an annual subscription fee set by the
1-42 department in an amount not to exceed the average annual <deposit
1-43 with the commission a sum of not exceeding Twenty-five ($25.00)
1-44 Dollars per year to cover> costs of mailing notices to an
1-45 applicant. The department shall deposit fees in the state treasury
1-46 to the credit of the state highway fund. Sections 403.094(h) and
1-47 403.095, Government Code, do not apply to funds deposited in the
1-48 state highway fund under this subsection.
1-49 SECTION 2. Section 9, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of the
1-50 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674i, Vernon's
1-51 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-52 Sec. 9. (a) <The State Department of Highways and Public
1-53 Transportation shall have the right to reject any and all such
1-54 bids.> All such bids shall be sealed, and filed with the executive
1-55 director of the Texas Department of Transportation or the
1-56 director's designee <State Engineer-Director for Highways and
1-57 Public Transportation> at Austin, Texas, and shall be opened at a
1-58 public meeting by the director or the director's designee <hearing
1-59 of the State Highway and Public Transportation Commission>. All
1-60 bidders may attend and all bids shall be opened in their presence.
1-61 The Texas Transportation Commission by rule may prescribe
1-62 conditions under which a bid may be rejected by the department.
1-63 <Copies of all such bids shall be filed with the county in which
1-64 the work is to be performed. Provided however, on contracts
1-65 involving less than One Hundred Thousand ($100,000.00) Dollars bids
1-66 may in the discretion of the Commission be received at a public
1-67 hearing by the District Engineer at the District Headquarters.>
1-68 All bids so received and not rejected by the department <by the
2-1 District Engineer> shall be tabulated and forwarded to the
2-2 Commission, and the Commission shall have the right to accept or
2-3 reject same, and if accepted, award the contract to the lowest
2-4 bidder, subject to the requirement of Section 8A of this Act.
2-5 (b) For a contract estimated by the department to involve
2-6 less than $300,000, the Commission may by rule allow bids to be
2-7 filed with the district engineer at a district headquarters and
2-8 opened and read at a public meeting held by the district engineer
2-9 or the district engineer's designee. The Commission may delegate
2-10 to the executive director or the executive director's designee the
2-11 right to accept or reject bids received, subject to the
2-12 requirements of Section 8A of this Act, and to award a contract to
2-13 the lowest bidder. <It shall be the duty of the Commission to
2-14 prescribe rules and regulations on all bidders on bids received by
2-15 District Engineers, but the rules and regulations required by the
2-16 Commission for bids received at Austin by said Commission shall not
2-17 apply to bidders submitting bids to District Engineers.>
2-18 SECTION 3. Section 11, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of
2-19 the 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674k,
2-20 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
2-21 Sec. 11. The Texas Transportation <State Highway> Commission
2-22 shall prescribe the form of such contracts and may include therein
2-23 such matters as they may deem advantageous to the State. Such
2-24 forms shall be uniform, as near as may be. The commission may
2-25 delegate its authority under this section to the executive director
2-26 of the Texas Department of Transportation. The executive director
2-27 may delegate authority received under this section to an employee
2-28 of the department who is not below the rank of division director.
2-29 SECTION 4. Section 12, Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of
2-30 the 39th Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674l,
2-31 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
2-32 Sec. 12. Every such contract for highway improvement under
2-33 the provisions of this Act shall be made in the name of the State
2-34 of Texas, signed by the executive director of the Texas Department
2-35 of Transportation or the director's designee <State Highway
2-36 Engineer>, approved by at least two members of the Texas
2-37 Transportation <State Highway> Commission or a designee under
2-38 Section 2103.064(a), Government Code, and signed by the contracting
2-39 party, and no such contract shall be entered into which will create
2-40 a liability on the part of the State in excess of funds available
2-41 for expenditure under the terms of this Act.
2-42 SECTION 5. The change in law made by this Act applies only
2-43 to a contract for which a notice has been published under Sections
2-44 8(b) and (c), Chapter 186, General Laws, Acts of the 39th
2-45 Legislature, Regular Session, 1925 (Article 6674h, Vernon's Texas
2-46 Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, on or after the effective
2-47 date of this Act. A contract for which the notice was published
2-48 before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
2-49 effect when the notice was published, and the former law is
2-50 continued in effect for that purpose.
2-51 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
2-52 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-53 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-54 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-55 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-56 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-57 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-58 * * * * *