By:  Bernsen                                          S.B. No. 1672
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the award of state highway improvement contracts.
 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-3           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 223, Transportation Code,
 1-4     is amended by adding Section 223.0041 to read as follows:
 1-5           Sec. 223.0041.  AWARD OF CONTRACTS.  (a)  Except as provided
 1-6     in Section 223.005, all bids received and not rejected by the
 1-7     department shall be tabulated and forwarded to the commission and
 1-8     may be accepted or rejected by the commission.
 1-9           (b)  If the bids are accepted, the commission shall award the
1-10     contract to the lowest bidder, subject to Section 223.045.
1-11           SECTION 2.  Section 223.005, Transportation Code, is amended
1-12     to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 223.005.  BIDS ON CONTRACTS INVOLVING LESS THAN
1-14     $300,000.
1-15           (a)  The commission by rule may allow bids on a contract
1-16     estimated by the department to involve an amount less than $300,000
1-17     to be filed with the district engineer at the headquarters for the
1-18     district in which the improvement is to be made and opened and read
1-19     at a public meeting held by the district engineer or the district
1-20     engineer's designee.
1-21           (b)  [Except as provided by Subsection (d), all bids received
1-22     under this section and not rejected by the department shall be
 2-1     tabulated and forwarded to the commission and may be accepted or
 2-2     rejected by the commission.]
 2-3           [(c)  If the bids are accepted, the commission shall award
 2-4     the contract to the lowest bidder, subject to Section 223.045.]
 2-5           [(d)]  The commission may delegate to the director or the
 2-6     director's designee the right to:
 2-7                 (1)  accept or reject bids received, subject to Section
 2-8     223.045; and
 2-9                 (2)  award a contract to the lowest bidder.
2-10           SECTION 3.  Section 223.013(c), Transportation Code, is
2-11     amended to read as follows:
2-12           (c)  A provision under this subchapter that requires [That
2-13     part of Section 223.004(a) requiring] a bid to be opened at a
2-14     public hearing [of the commission] does not apply to an
2-15     electronically submitted bid.  A copy of each electronically
2-16     submitted bid shall be publicly posted within 48 hours after bids
2-17     are opened.
2-18           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-23     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-24     passage, and it is so enacted.