HBA-CMT H.B. 3413 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3413 By: McClendon Urban Affairs 4/2/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a public housing authority must hire an architect to design plans for public housing projects in order to request competitive bids. Once a design has been completed, the housing authority goes through a competitive bidding process for construction of the designed project. The housing authority must pay all up front costs of the design work, and risks losing that money if the project is not built. Current law does not allow housing authorities to accept bids that include architectural plans and construction costs in one proposal, also known as turn-key bids. House Bill 3413 authorizes the use of alternative bidding methods for public housing authority projects that accept Housing and Urban Development funding. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 3413 amends the Local Government Code to provide that the competitive bidding laws including provisions regarding the purchasing and contracting authority of local governments do not apply to the planning, acquisition, establishment, development, construction, or renovation of housing projects, programs, or facilities by public housing authorities which are funded in part by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development grant. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.