Lens on the Legislature: Procurement Bills

Last week's column reviewed proposals to amend the Texas Constitution. Gubernatorial approval was not required on those joint resolutions. This week's column begins a review of bills and most of these bills are still subject to gubernatorial veto. The deadline for vetoes is Sunday. Of the 876 house bills and 513 senate bills that were enrolled and sent to the governor, the governor has signed 288 through close of business yesterday. Bills which are neither signed nor vetoed by Sunday become law without the governor's signature.

This week's Lens focuses on procurement bills. The search method explained in the June 3rd column might lead one to examine 35 bills that possibly relate to procurement. A different search method will be given later in this article and a third search method will be presented next week.

Here are some key procurement-related bills:

• HB 26 establishes an electronic database of major state contracts and related documents. Subject to exceptions, this database will be available to the public.
• SB 1569 directs the state Comptroller of Public Accounts to hire outside contractors to perform what are commonly called "recovery audits." The efforts, which include pursuing judicial action to recover overpayments, are aimed at duplicate payments, payments that didn't reflect available discounts, payments for improperly applied late fees or incorrectly applied shipping fees, payments of sales taxes, or payments for goods and services the vendor did not provide.
• HB 1516 deals with technology procurement, but is far broader. With regard to procurement, it gives the Department of Information Resources a broader role in the procurement of "commodity items," which now includes hardware and services (including seat management) in addition to the software procurement authority DIR previously had. Agencies must provide DIR with planned procurement schedules for commodity items before their operating plans can be approved.
• HB 1331, HB 1562 and HB 3384 collectively allow junior colleges, local workforce development boards, and certain Indian tribes to participate in cooperative contracts.
• HB 905 adds more muscle to the State Auditor's ability to audit state contracts.
• HB 2039 relates to the adjudication of contract disputes with local governments and in some cases requires them to waive sovereign immunity.
• HB 2932 requires state agency purchasing personnel to disclose certain family relationships with business entities receiving certain state agency contracts. "Purchasing personnel" includes anyone who makes decisions or recommendations regarding evaluation and selection or terms of the contract

Here is another search method for readers interested in finding bills related to procurement. The three links below provide lists of introduced bills that related to procurement. Recalling from previous columns that bills passed by both legislative chambers and sent to the governor are said to be "enrolled," one can quickly scan the status shown for each bill and pick out those that were enrolled.

• Purchasing - General
• Purchasing - Local
• Purchasing - State

Next week's Lens on the Legislature will continue to focus on bills. By then, the governor's actions will be known. Reader requests for subject areas are welcomed. Send them to editor@spartnerships.com.

[Editor's Note: Past issues of Lens on the Legislature are available online]