LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          March 22, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Clyde Alexander, Chair       IN RE:  House Bill No. 2176
         Committee on Transportation                    By: Price
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
2176 (Relating to the award of highway improvement contracts.)
this office has determined the following:

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal
basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions
of the bill.

The bill would allow the Department of Transportation, on
contracts estimated by the department to be less than $300,000,
to publish the time when and the place where such contracts would
be let and bids opened on two successive issues of a newspaper
published in the county that the work is to be done. If there is
no paper published in the county then advertising shall be in a
newspaper published in some county nearest the county seat of the
county which the work is to be done.

The bill would allow for an annual subscription fee to be set by
the Department, not to exceed the average annual costs of mailing
notices to any person, firm, or corporation, that applies to be
put on the mailing list to receive notice of lettings of any
contracts. The fees would be deposited to the credit of the State
Highway Fund and be exempted from Sections 403.094(h) and
403.095, Government Code.

The bill would also allow the Commission, by rule, to have
contracts estimated by the Department to be less then $300,000,
be filed with the District Engineer at a district headquarters
and opened and read at a public meeting held by the District
Engineer or the District Engineer's designee.    




 
The fiscal implication to  the State or units of local government
cannot be determined.


Source:   Department of Transportation
          LBB Staff: JK, ML, DF