84R22152 JSL-D
By: Galindo H.B. No. 1486
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1486:
By: Aycock C.S.H.B. No. 1486
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a prohibition on a vendor contact with a member of the
board of trustees of certain independent school districts during
the procurement process.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 44, Education Code, is
amended by adding Section 44.0353 to read as follows:
Sec. 44.0353. VENDOR CONTACT PROHIBITED. (a) This section
applies only to 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.
(b) A member of the board of trustees of an independent
school district to which this section applies may not, outside a
public meeting of the board, have direct or indirect communication
with an actual or prospective bidder or offeror relating to a
request for proposals or an advertisement for bids during the
period:
(1) after the district has issued the request for
proposals or has advertised for bids on a contract; and
(2) before the board has awarded the contract that was
the subject of the request for proposals or the advertisement for
bids.
(c) If a trustee violates Subsection (b) by engaging in
direct or indirect communication with a bidder or offeror, the
board shall reject the bid or offer of the bidder or offeror.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), a trustee may have
direct or indirect communication with an actual or prospective
bidder or offeror if:
(1) the trustee has a substantial interest, as
determined under Section 171.002, Local Government Code, in a
business entity or in real property and complies with the
requirements of Chapter 171, Local Government Code, if applicable,
and:
(A) the business entity is an actual or
prospective bidder or offeror responding to the school district's
request for proposals or advertisement for bids and the
communication relates to the business entity's response; or
(B) the real property is offered in response to
the school district's request for proposals or advertisement for
bids and the communication relates to the real property; or
(2) 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, before the earlier of:
(A) one week after the date the communication
occurred; or
(B) the date on which the board votes on the
request for proposals or advertisement for bids for which the
bidder or offeror submitted a proposal or bid.
SECTION 2. Section 44.0353, Education Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a contract for which the request for
proposals or bids was issued on or after the effective date of this
Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.