HBA-AMW H.B. 409 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 409
By: Shields
State Affairs
2/6/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law does not require that a bondsman's name, address, and telephone
number appear on a payment or performance bond.  As a result, it may be
difficult to locate the bondsman to obtain payment on a government or
private bond.  House Bill 409 requires that performance and payment bonds
clearly display this information for both the surety issuing the bond and
the surety contact person. 

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 409 amends the Government Code to provide that a bond executed
to a governmental entity by a prime contractor for a public work must
clearly and prominently display on the face of the bond the name, mailing
address, physical address, and telephone number, including the area code,
of both the surety issuing the bond and the surety contact person, if any,
to whom any notice of claim should be given.  The bill also requires a
prime contractor, on the written request of a person who provides public
work labor or material, to provide the person with the same surety and
surety contact person information within a specified time period.  The bill
requires a governmental entity to provide to any person who makes the
appropriate request a certified copy of a payment bond, the public work
contract for which the bond was given, and the aforementioned surety and
surety contact person information.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.