BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4074

By: Blanco

State Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that the Department of Information Resources (DIR) offers cost-effective and efficient commodity and telecommunications contracting and procurement and that emergency and disaster response activities by a variety of governmental and public safety entities may benefit from DIR services. C.S.H.B. 4074 seeks to address this issue by providing additional avenues for these entities to make such commodity and telecommunications acquisitions and by providing an expansion of the authorization for DIR to contract with certain entities other than state agencies for the use of the consolidated telecommunications system.

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

C.S.H.B. 4074 amends the Government Code to authorize a county hospital, public hospital, hospital district, or a public safety entity, as defined by federal law, to purchase commodity items through the Department of Information Resources (DIR), subject to a reasonable administrative fee.

C.S.H.B. 4074 authorizes DIR to contract for the use of the consolidated telecommunications system with a public safety entity as defined by federal law or a governmental entity of another state and removes language limiting the accredited private institutions of higher education with which DIR may enter into such a contract.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4074 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute replaces a county with a county hospital as an entity authorized to purchase commodity items through DIR.