HBA-MPA C.S.H.B. 1029 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1029
By: Keffer
Urban Affairs
4/18/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, Texas cities with a population of less than 100,000 are required
to solicit sealed bids to provide insurance services valued at over $5,000.
This creates a hardship for many small cities, which do not have the staff
available to review the submitted proposals or work with the complicated
bid process.  Moreover, many small cities prefer to do business locally
with their taxpayers, and current law makes it extremely difficult for
small cities to find local people to go through the bidding process.
C.S.H.B. 1029 provides an alternative process for obtaining insurance for a
municipality under 100,000. 

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. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 252.021(b), Local Government Code, to provide
that a municipality with a population less than 100,000 may enter into a
contract for insurance that requires an expenditure over $5,000, by
negotiating with at least two insurance agents and one intergovernmental
risk pool, selecting the insurance contract that is lowest and best, and
providing a notice in a general circulation newspaper containing the name
and contract amount of the selected insurance carrier or risk pool and the
names of other entities making proposals.  This procedure is an alternative
to complying with the procedure for competitive sealed bidding set out in
Chapter 252 (purchasing and Contracting Authority of Municipalities). 

SECTION 2.   Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1029 differs from the original in SECTION 1 by amending Section
252.021(b), rather than (a) and (b).  The substitute sets forth an
alternative procedure that a municipality with a population under 100,000
may follow in lieu of sealed competitive bidding.  The original bill
exempted a municipality under 50,000 from the requirement to comply with a
procedure requiring competitive sealed bidding or proposals before it can
enter into a contract of more than $15,000, and exempted a municipality
with a population between 50,000 and 100,000 from the $5,000 insurance
contract requirement for sealed competitive bidding. 

C.S.H.B. 1029 differs from the original by adding a new SECTION 2 to make
application of this Act prospective. 

SECTION 2 (emergency clause) of the original bill is redesignated to
SECTION 3 of the substitute.