Bill Caption

Relating to a prohibition on vendor contact with a member of the board of trustees of an independent school district during the procurement process.

Fiscal Notes

No fiscal implication to the State or local government.

Bill Analysis

HB 1486 would amend Education Code to prohibit a member of the board of trustees of an independent school district any part of which is located in a county with a population of more than 1.5 million in which more than 75 percent of the population lives in a single municipality from having vendor contact. The period would begin when the district has issued the request for proposals or has advertised for bids on a contract and before the board has awarded the contract that was the subject of the request for proposals or the advertisement for bids. If the trustee violates this prohibition, the bid must be rejected.

The trustee would be authorized to have direct or indirection communication under two situations. One, the trustee has a substantial interest in a business entity or in real property and complies with Local Government Code requirements pertaining to the regulation of conflicts of interest of certain local government officers. Two, the communication occurs at a trade show or convention at which the bidder or offeror was a registered participant and the trustee discloses at a public meeting of the board that the communication occurred one week after the date or before the bid is voted on.

Vote Recommendation Notes

This bill affirms the principle of limited government. A legitimate function of government is to prohibit ethical violations when government agencies deal with the private sector.  This will prevent trustees of a school board of an independent school district in that particular county from engaging with any vendor after the district has asked for proposals for a contract in order to stop favoritism. Based on the description of the bill, this appears to affect Bexar County.  Because of these reasons, we support HB 1486.