Bill: SB 408, 84(R) - 2015

Committee

Senate Intergovernmental Relations

Vote Recommendation

Vote Recommendation Economic Freedom Property Rights Personal Responsibility Limited Government Individual Liberty
No Negative Neutral Neutral Negative Neutral

Author(s)

José Rodríguez

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. 


Source URL (retrieved on 03/29/2024 01:03 AM): http://reports.texasaction.com/bill/84r/sb408?print_view=true