S.B. No. 771
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the authority of a county to lease real property to
    1-2  certain organizations and to the procedures for such leases.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subsection (e), Section 263.007, Local Government
    1-5  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (e)  The commissioners court of a county may lease real
    1-7  property owned or controlled by the county that was formerly owned
    1-8  or controlled by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
    1-9  Retardation to a federal, state, or local  government  entity for
   1-10  any purpose or to a nonprofit organization that is exempt from
   1-11  federal taxation under Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of
   1-12  1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 501(c)(3)), to conduct health and human
   1-13  service activities or such other activities which the commissioners
   1-14  court finds to be in the public interest, without using the
   1-15  sealed-bid or sealed-proposal process described in Subsection (a)
   1-16  and without using any other competitive bidding process which would
   1-17  otherwise be required by law.  If the commissioners court of a
   1-18  county chooses to lease under this subsection, the commissioners
   1-19  court shall declare its intent to do so through written notice
   1-20  posted in the same place and manner as the commissioners court
   1-21  posts its regular meeting agenda not later than 30 days prior to
   1-22  the beginning of the lease period.  In setting the terms and
   1-23  conditions of the lease, including but not limited to the amount of
    2-1  the lease payment, the commissioners court may consider local
    2-2  business custom regarding leases and the reasonable market value of
    2-3  the leasehold, but the commissioners court is not bound thereby and
    2-4  may also consider the extent to which the provision of services or
    2-5  the other activities to be performed by the lessee will benefit the
    2-6  public.  This subsection does not limit the ability of a
    2-7  commissioners court to enter into interlocal agreements, contracts,
    2-8  or any other arrangement permitted by law.
    2-9        (f)  The procedure authorized by this section is an
   2-10  alternative procedure to the procedure authorized by Section
   2-11  272.001.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-14  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-17  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-18  passage, and it is so enacted.