HBA-MPA H.B. 2643 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2643 By: Longoria Transportation 4/23/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, small contractors who are historically underutilized businesses (HUB) often do not have access to large capital resources and are therefore at a disadvantage in bidding for state contracts under current requirements that the HUB remit what is often a large percentage of their working capital for a proposal guaranty in the form of a cashier's check or money order for each separate highway improvement bid. H.B. 2643 entitles a historically underutilized business that is certified as such by the General Services Commission to waive the requirement for a proposal guaranty in the form of a cashier's check, money order, or teller's check as a condition of bidding for a highway improvement contract. Instead the certified HUB would be required to submit a bid bond. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Transportation in SECTION 1 (Section 223.014, Transportation Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 223, Transportation Code, by adding Section 223.014, as follows: Sec. 223.014. HISTORICALLY UNDERUTILIZED BUSINESS; FORM OF PROPOSAL GUARANTY. (a) Provides that a bidder that is a historically underutilized business, if the Texas Department of Transportation requires by rule as a condition of bidding for a highway improvement contract a proposal guaranty in the form of a cashier's check, money order, or teller's check drawn by a specified financial institution, is entitled to receive a waiver of that requirement, and submit a bid bond issued by a surety authorized to do business in this state in lieu of an instrument specified by that rule. (b) Defines "historically underutilized business." SECTION 2. Effective date: January 1, 2000. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.