BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 261

By: Zaffirini

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Concerns have been raised that recent legislation pertaining to state agency contracting contained a provision that could be construed to override the ability of the Department of Information Resources (DIR) to engage in bulk purchasing of information technology commodity items intended for use by more than one state agency. S.B. 261 seeks to address these concerns by exempting DIR bulk purchases of such items from certain state contracting requirements.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 261 amends the Government Code to exempt a Department of Information Resources (DIR) contract for the bulk purchase of information technology commodity items intended for use by more than one state agency from certain procedural requirements for purchasing a commodity item from the DIR list of commodity items available for purchase through DIR at a lower price than those otherwise available to state agencies for such items and from the prohibition against a state agency entering into a contract to purchase a commodity item with a contract value that exceeds $1 million.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2017.