Bill
SB 408
84(R) - 2015
Senate Intergovernmental Relations
Senate Intergovernmental Relations
Intergovernmental Affairs
Vote Recommendation
No
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Negative
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Neutral
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Neutral
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Negative
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Neutral
Author(s)
José RodrÃguez
Co-Author(s)
Royce West
Bill Caption
Relating to consideration of a bidder's principal place of business in awarding certain county contracts.
Fiscal Notes
No fiscal implication to the State or local governments is expected.
Bill Analysis
This bill only adds "or county" to the existing Local Government Code. The purpose of this bill is to allow counties to compete with municipalities in securing construction contracts. SB 408 allows special preference to bidders whose principal place of business is located in the county to increase from 3% to 5% of the lowest bid. The law already allows this preference for bidders located in the municipality.
Vote Recommendation Notes
While
we can agree that protecting local jobs is important to our economy we should
not undermine the free market system and increase government influence to do
so. SB 408 seeks to increase the special privilege of county-based businesses
by allowing up to a 2% greater buffer in contract bids over businesses located outside of the county regardless of whether or not
they could perform the same level of work. Instead of using government to
secure special privileges for local businesses, Texas should allow open bidding on the free market to drive down costs without forsaking quality
in the name of awarding contracts to locally based businesses.