HBA-CMT H.B. 3413 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3413 By: McClendon Urban Affairs 7/17/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Prior to the 77th Legislature, a public housing authority was required by law to hire an architect to design plans for public housing projects in order to request competitive bids. Once a design had been completed, the housing authority went through a competitive bidding process for construction of the designed project. The housing authority was required to pay all up front costs of the design work, and risked losing that money if the project was not built. Previous law did not allow housing authorities to accept bids that included architectural plans and construction costs in one proposal, also known as turn-key bids. House Bill 3413 authorizes the use of alternative bidding methods for an activity of a public housing authority to develop a mixed-finance housing project as defined by federal law. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 3413 amends the Local Government Code to provide that competitive bidding laws including the Public Property Finance Act do not apply to an activity of a public housing authority to develop a mixed-finance housing project as defined by federal law if the housing project otherwise complies with procurement requirements imposed by federal law and regulations. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.