HBA-NLM H.B. 1506 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1506
By: McCall
County Affairs
3/4/1999
Committee Report (Amended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, the commissioners court of a county is permitted to make the
occasional sale of surplus or salvage property by competitive bid or
auction.  Section 263.152, Local Government Code, includes an exception
which states that a competitive bid or auction is not necessary if the
purchaser is another county.  Current law does not apply this provision to
other political subdivisions of the state.  H.B. 1506 exempts all political
subdivisions from the process of engaging in formal bidding or auction for
the purchase of surplus property from another county. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 263.152(a), Local Government Code, as follows:

(a)(1)  Provides that competitive bidding or an auction is not necessary
under the provisions of this subsection if the purchaser is a political
subdivision of this state, rather than if the purchaser is another county. 

SECTION 2.  Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.

EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS

Amendment  #1

Amends H.B. 1506, by deleting existing language on lines 9 and 10, page 1,
of this bill (Section 263.152(a), Local Government Code), which states that
"bidding or an auction is not necessary if the purchaser is a political
subdivision of this state," and substituting lines 9 and 10 with the
following: 

"bidding or an auction is not necessary if the purchaser is another county
or a political subdivision within the county."