79R9549 DRH-D


By:  Anchia                                                       H.B. No. 2695


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to allowing a county to consider health insurance benefits provided by a bidder to its employees when awarding a purchasing contract. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 262, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 262.0271 to read as follows: Sec. 262.0271. CONSIDERATION OF HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDED BY BIDDER. (a) In this section, "comparable health insurance coverage" means health insurance benefits provided by a bidder or a subcontractor a bidder intends to use that are comparable to the health insurance benefits provided for employees of the county. (b) In purchasing items under this chapter through a competitive bidding process, if a county receives one or more bids from a bidder who provides comparable health insurance coverage to its employees and requires a subcontractor the bidder intends to use to provide comparable health insurance coverage to the subcontractor's employees and whose bid is within five percent of the lowest bid price received by the county from a bidder who does not provide or require comparable health insurance coverage, the commissioners court of the county may give preference to the bidder who provides and requires comparable health insurance coverage. (c) This section does not prohibit a county from rejecting all bids. SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a contract awarded on or after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.