By:  Moncrief                                     S.B. No. 67

         97S0006/1 07/15/96                             

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to purchasing procedures used by the institutional

 1-3     division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 496.051, Government Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 496.051.  PURCHASING PROCEDURES.  [(a)]  The department

 1-8     shall comply with any special purchasing procedures requiring

 1-9     competitive review under the State Purchasing and General Services

1-10     Act (Subtitle D, Title 10) [(Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil

1-11     Statutes)].

1-12           [(b)  The board may authorize the executive director to adopt

1-13     policies allowing the institutional division to purchase directly

1-14     or at public auction livestock, agricultural commodities,

1-15     agricultural or industrial equipment, supplies, and raw materials

1-16     for agricultural or industrial production, breeding, consumption,

1-17     or resale, if the division determines that the purchase is

1-18     economically feasible and advantageous to the division.  The State

1-19     Purchasing and General Services Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas

1-20     Civil Statutes) does not apply to purchases made under this

1-21     subsection.  The institutional division shall notify the General

1-22     Services Commission as soon as practicable of a purchase made under

1-23     this subsection and the purchase price.]

 2-1           [(c)  To carry out Subsection (b), the industry and

 2-2     agricultural fund is created.  The fund must be deposited in a

 2-3     local bank.  The fund may be expended only for purchases under

 2-4     Subsection (b). Unexpended balances of the fund must be carried

 2-5     forward from fiscal year to fiscal year.]

 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.