By:  Moncrief                                          S.B. No. 771
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        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.  Section 263.001, Local Government Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-6        (d)  The commissioners court of a county may lease real
    1-7  property owned or controlled by the county to a federal, state, or
    1-8  local governmental entity for any purpose, or to a tax-exempt or
    1-9  nonprofit organization to conduct health and human service
   1-10  activities or such other activities which the commissioners court
   1-11  finds to be in the public interest, without using the public
   1-12  auction process described in Subsection (a) and without using any
   1-13  other competitive bidding process which would otherwise be required
   1-14  by law.  If the commissioners court of a county chooses to lease
   1-15  under this section, the commissioners court shall declare its
   1-16  intent to do so through written notice posted in the same place and
   1-17  manner as the commissioners court posts its regular meeting agenda
   1-18  not later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the lease period.
   1-19  In setting the terms and conditions of the lease, including but not
   1-20  limited to the amount of the lease payment, the commissioners court
   1-21  may consider local business custom regarding leases and the
   1-22  reasonable market value of the leasehold, but the commissioners
   1-23  court is not bound thereby and may also consider the extent to
    2-1  which the provision of services or the other activities to be
    2-2  performed by the lessee will benefit the public.  This section does
    2-3  not limit the ability of a commissioners court to enter into
    2-4  interlocal agreements, contracts, or any other arrangement
    2-5  permitted by law.
    2-6        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-7  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-8  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-9  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-10  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-11  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-12  passage, and it is so enacted.