1-1           By:  Moncrief                                     S.B. No. 67

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed November 12, 1996; January 14, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;

 1-4     February 26, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas

 1-5     7, Nays 0; February 26, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to purchasing procedures used by the institutional

 1-9     division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 496.051, Government Code, is amended to

1-12     read as follows:

1-13           Sec. 496.051.  PURCHASING PROCEDURES.  [(a)]  The department

1-14     shall comply with any special purchasing procedures requiring

1-15     competitive review under the State Purchasing and General Services

1-16     Act (Subtitle D, Title 10) [(Article 601b, Vernon's Texas Civil

1-17     Statutes)].

1-18           [(b)  The board may authorize the executive director to adopt

1-19     policies allowing the institutional division to purchase directly

1-20     or at public auction livestock, agricultural commodities,

1-21     agricultural or industrial equipment, supplies, and raw materials

1-22     for agricultural or industrial production, breeding, consumption,

1-23     or resale, if the division determines that the purchase is

1-24     economically feasible and advantageous to the division.  The State

1-25     Purchasing and General Services Act (Article 601b, Vernon's Texas

1-26     Civil Statutes) does not apply to purchases made under this

1-27     subsection.  The institutional division shall notify the General

1-28     Services Commission as soon as practicable of a purchase made under

1-29     this subsection and the purchase price.]

1-30           [(c)  To carry out Subsection (b), the industry and

1-31     agricultural fund is created.  The fund must be deposited in a

1-32     local bank.  The fund may be expended only for purchases under

1-33     Subsection (b).  Unexpended balances of the fund must be carried

1-34     forward from fiscal year to fiscal year.]

1-35           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-36     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-37     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-38     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-39     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-40     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-41     passage, and it is so enacted.

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